8/13/2019 Snow From Heaven

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Snow from heaven, not hoses.

so boasts Grand Targhee in Wyoming. And its no idle boast. The difference between real

snow and man-made is enormous, incomparable and worth discussing. As is the differencebetween wet and dry snow.

Wet snow, that has gone through repeated melt-freeze cycles, is often called orn !now. "nder

orn !now,or #elt-$reeze conditions, a crust forms on the surface that will support your weight

when frozen, but turns to deep slush during the heat of the day. The ma%ority of self-sustaineds&iing in%uries occur when people catch an edge in wet, hea'y snow.

(ry snow, on the other hand, has little to no li)uid water content and is therefore less dense than

a'erage, and not stic&y. *ess dense means there will be a lot of air poc&ets between the snow

crystals, and this is the +powder that you lo'e to s&i in.

The a'erage snow to li)uid ration is /0 1 which means that if / inches of snow fell and

subse)uently melted, it would produce inch of li)uid precipitation in the rain gauge 1 or inother words the e)ui'alent of inch of rain. The ratio for wet snow will be less than /0 and for

dry 1 higher it can be as much as 2/0.

To understand the difference between dry snow and wet snow, imagine a bunch of grapes. 3n this

analogy, the grapes are the snow grains and the grape 'ines are the crystalline bonds between

them. 4ow, imagine that when you wash the grapes, the grape 'ines dissol'e, lea'ing you with

nothing but free-floating grapes. 3n the snowpac&, when water percolates through the snowpac&it dissol'es the bonds between crystals5the more saturated the snow, the more it dissol'es the

bonds, thus, dramatically decreasing the strength of the snow.

!now can also be manufactured using snow cannons 6hoses7, which actually create tiny granulesmore li&e soft hail. This is sometimes called grits by those in the southern "nited !tates for itssimilarity to the te8ture of the food. 3t is hea'ier than natural snow and can get slushy as the day

progresses. 3n recent years, snow cannons ha'e been produced that create more natural-loo&ing

snow, but these machines are prohibiti'ely e8pensi'e.

!o there we ha'e it so now some practical e8amples. 4ise&o, 9apan has stunningly dry snow

which ma&es it such a fabulous place to s&i at. #ount :a&er, with the highest snowfall of all, is,

apparently, wetter, but amazing. !till a great place, but a different )uality to 4ise&o.

;n a broader scale, ha'ing done most of my s&iing in