How is Snow Made

By:
Imroatul Ngulya
Class: XII Science major 2
The term of snow or salju in Indonesian language comes from the Arabic tsaljun. How
does snow made? OK, to answer this question we can begin from the process of forming.
Snow, the big soft flakes we are familiar with, does not begin in this state. The
process of forming into snow begins high in the earths atmosphere.The formation of these
powdery flakes of snow depends on many factors in the formation of snow.
Snow begins as a tiny ice crystal or even a small speck of dust. When there is a lot of
moisture in the air, condensation starts to occur. These tiny drops of condensation start to
stick together. If the temperature in the higher atmosphere is cold enough, these tiny drops
start to freeze and become ice crystals. This is how ice crystals and eventually snowflakes,
get their varying shapes. The moisture droplets cling and freeze together randomly.
As more moisture collects and freeze together, the drops begin to get heavier and
start to fall toward the ground. These ice crystals may pass through several different
degrees of temperature changes as they plummet. This is how they fall as rain, sleet, or
snow.
Besides the random clinging and freezing of the droplet of water, other variables
affect how the snowflake will eventually have its own unique shape and design. Thing such as
how fast the ice crystal falls to the ground and how cold the temperature is that is passes
through will also effect the snowflakes final shape.
As the snowflake falls to the ground, it may pass through surface air that is warmer
or cooler. Melting and refreezing will take place, causing the snow to form into many
different intricate shapes, until it finally reaches the ground.
Even after the snow reaches the ground. And this is snow! it continues to change shape
as it melts and melts with the other snowflakes. The snowflake then looses all of its
intricate patterns. If the surface temperature is very cold, the snow will form a hard
crusted top. If it is warm, the snow may start to melt and become slushy.