can it get too cold to snow?

[kitty]

Ive heard people say that things like 'no, Its too cold to snow now', but is this actually possible?? Can it really be too cold to snow and why??

[TheHitMaker]

Yes, it can. This was confirmed by a Canadian friend of mine who tells me that for much of the winter where she comes from it will not snow 'cos it's just too cold. Anything below 5 degrees Centigrade apparently and it just won't happpen!

[sddsddean]

To quote Jasper Carrott (et al) "In Antartica its -50 C and they've got bloody tons of the stuff!!"

[rekstout]

When air is very cold it cannot support a great deal of water vapour so if air is too cold there is nothing in it to condense into droplets/snow - I can see the truth in the statement.

However, this relates to the air at higher altitudes and it quite possible that a layer of cold air is at ground level, forcing warm moist air up, causing it to condense and then freeze into snow which then falls through the cold air layer.

[cupra]

Weather's a complex thing, for sure! As rekstout says, it all depends on topography, temperature bands and weather fronts (I'm just back from Austria where the temperature at ground level was -10C and it actually was snowing!). If you have a look at www.snow-forecast.com, you will see that the biggest dumps of snow occur when ground temperatures rise significantly - that is why we tend to get snow for only 1-2 days at a time (we need a cold snap then a warm front - this is why a White Xmas is so rare!). ......and Antarctica is actually classed as a desert region in many places - the snow just blows around, and doesn't often fall!

[BVRichthofen]

Its -13 here in Croatia at the mo and it's been snowing all day. Going back home to blighty friday for the weekend so hope it isn't too cold over there.

[simon_says]

When there is an anti-cyclone in a certain area this produces no clouds, which in turn produces lower temperatures than if there were clouds. Obviously you need clouds to produce snow, so if there were no clouds in the area leading to lower temps then that is, possibly, where the saying comes from. If you get my drift. Boom boom