Western New York is fully committing to the business of winter this year. As I currently look at the weather forecast, most days ahead have at least a little bit of snowfall predicted, and there are definitely some differing opinions on that situation. Some people are thrilled to break out the snow pants, skis, snowboards, and snowshoes, while others prefer to stay inside and leave all of that snow and cold business alone. 

I have spent most of my life living in areas with a pretty healthy dose of winter; with a couple of exceptions, most years are filled with varying amounts of cold, snow, and ice. I also probably fall on the end of the spectrum that is more excited about the snow than annoyed at it, as I willingly put up with the occasional harrowing drive through a white-out if it means I also get to go snowshoeing through a silent, blanketed forest. 

There are plenty of ways to enjoy the snow, but it turns out that there is a little more nuance in lining up your preferred activity with the given precipitation. Last week, I walked out to the parking lot and saw someone wiping down their cross-country skis. I asked how the skiing was, and if there was enough snow out there for it. The response? Not great; the snow is too wet and too sticky.

Kids, with their inclination towards play in most situations, often see snow and start doing their best to pick up snow and roll it into a large enough ball to make a snowman, or some other creation. Sometimes we end up with a human-sized creation. Other times, there is no such luck. The snow is too fluffy to stick together.

It seems like snow should just be snow, but there are so many different variations on a theme when it comes to semi-frozen water falling from the sky. These variations come from the many variables present as water moves through the sky, including temperature, how much moisture is in the atmosphere, and atmospheric pressure. This falling and freezing water creates snowflakes, sleet, ice crystals, hail, and snow pellets.

Even starting with your basic snowfall, there are differences. You may have noticed, whether you are walking on it, shoveling the driveway, or cleaning off the car, that one day the snow is light and fluffy, but on another day, it feels wet and heavy. This primarily has to do with temperature changes as the snowflake falls through the atmosphere down to the ground. If the temperature is below or at freezing all the way down, there is usually less liquid content in the snowflake and we end up with lighter, fluffy snowflakes. If the temperature near the ground is above freezing, that snowflake melts slightly as it is still falling, making the accumulated snow heavier and wetter. Of course, the temperature of whatever the snowflakes land on can affect how wet the snow is as well. 

Individual snowflakes could be a completely different but full conversation in themselves. These form into a multitude of unique crystals as they fall through the atmosphere. Wilson Bentley photographed thousands of snowflakes in the late 1800’s, and since then there have been crystal morphology diagrams and an entire classification system dividing snowflakes into 80 distinct shapes. Even within those 80 snowflake shapes, each snowflake has its own miniscule differences.

Snowflakes form when water vapor freezes directly into a solid ice crystal, skipping the liquid phase entirely in a process called deposition. However, there are conditions that offer other us types of frozen precipitation. Sleet and ice crystals are sometimes the unfortunate result of the liquid water freezing as it falls. Since it goes through the liquid stage it forms ice, not a snowflake, the same way putting water in the freezer changes it from a liquid to a solid. This can get even more complicated as things melt and refreeze on the way down, creating many varieties of ice pellets and semi-frozen water.

Snow isn’t a given for everyone, everywhere. I lived in California for about a year, and while it didn’t snow often, the foothills I called home at the time occasionally had some winter precipitation, and that winter I spent there got just cold enough for a little bit of frozen precipitation. That was where I first learned the word graupel. Graupel is another word for snow pellets, sometimes also just known as soft hail, or tapioca snow, which is a recent term I came across, but it might be my new favorite. Tapioca is a pretty good description of this snowfall, which comes down as small pellets, similar to hail but easier to melt in your hand and formed a little differently. When it piles up, graupel also reminds me of Dippin’ Dots, that pelleted frozen ice cream you find in amusement parks.

Graupel can happen anywhere, and in fact, I saw some right around here just the other week. It forms when supercooled water, which is just extra cold water that makes it below freezing point without actually freezing, attaches to an existing snow crystal. 

Graupel is also different from true hail. Hail generally happens outside of winter and forms a little differently than the previously mentioned ice crystals. It forms in thunderstorm clouds as layers of ice form an irregularly shaped ball more than 0.2 inches across.

Right now, the snow might seem somewhat never-ending and continuous, but not every snowfall is the same. The smallest differences outside, both where we are standing on the ground, and way up in the sky above us, creates a slightly different experience each time it gets cold enough for water vapor or liquid to freeze and fall. 

Audubon Community Nature Center builds and nurtures connections between people and nature. ACNC is located just east of Route 62 between Warren and Jamestown. The trails are open from dawn to dusk and birds of prey can be viewed anytime the trails are open. The Nature Center is open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily except Sunday when it opens at 1 p.m. More information can be found online at auduboncnc.org or by calling (716) 569-2345.