How Are Snow Mountains Formed And What Types Of Snow Are Found On Them?

Asked 2 months ago
Answer 1
Viewed 36
1

It's almost certainly going to happen this season. After a long day of skiing a few inches of snow at your favorite mountain, a buddy calls from a neighboring resort and tells you about their fantastic powder day. You want to call them out on it, but are they speaking the truth? Sure, they can.

How Are Snow Mountains Formed And What Types Of Snow Are Found On Them?

Simply put, mountains make their own snow. Our topic is not snowmaking devices; we will discuss that in a moment.

You are aware, from personal experience, that the higher you climb a mountain, the colder it becomes. As the atmosphere thins, the air loses its ability to hold heat and descends as chilly air. When the weather hits 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius), the water freezes and snows. Did you realize that every rain begins as snow and melts while falling?

So, how can mountains "make snow"?

A mountain forces the moist breeze to ascend. Rising air expands due to decreased pressure, and this expanded air cools, enabling moisture to condense into snow. The procedure (which is useful for apeski trivia) is known as orographic lift. It is responsible for more than half of the snowfall that occurs naturally on huge mountains. Then there's convective precipitation, which happens when air rises vertically through a part of the atmosphere, propelled by temperature, moisture, and vertical force. In other words, moisture is driven out of the atmosphere via precipitation.

Related: How does a sunrise or sunset in nature make you feel?

What about "human-made" snow?

Snowmaking has arguably been the single most essential component in preserving the skiing and snowboarding season. This is a fun fact: The first snowmaker was Louis Gelb, a technical director at Warner Brothers, who created a chilly and wet snowstorm on a bright day on the studio's backlot in Burbank, California. This first-ever snowmaking equipment included three spinning blades that shaved ice off a 400-pound block and a powerful fan that blasted all of the particles into the air. 

We can utilize weather models to discover snow.

Snowmaking nowadays is based on the same premise, but it has gotten more complex. Water and compressed air are propelled via a snow gun or a huge "cannon." And voilà, snow. It is used to ensure the consistency of a resort's snow cover. It has the potential to either supplement or replace the snowpack. And it is so excellent that you may not see the difference between what was fired from firearms and what fell from the sky.

Answered 2 months ago Anonymous