There's Snow, Then There's Snow
Snow can be an icy-white quiet delight or a back-breaking shoveling nightmare. Yet whether you love it or hate it, snow is truly a wonder to behold. I can remember being fascinated with snowflakes as a kid, but hadn't thought about the wonderful shapes and sizes of snowflakes for years. Then I found some great resources on the Internet where I could learn everything I ever wanted to know about snow, and more.
I started at SnowCrystals.com where they explained, "Although no two snowflakes are exactly alike, their forms usually fall into several broad categories." From Stellar Dentrites to Hollow Columns, this site classifies snowflakes and provides wonderful pictures and examples. Their Snowflake Primer explains that what we usually call snowflakes are more accurately snow crystals which generally show six-sided symmetry. This website explains how snow crystals form more complex shapes, what they look like, and how snow is so much more than just frozen rain. There is even a printable field guide to falling snow, which includes excellent graphics of the major types of snow crystals and a diagram of the international classification system of snow crystals. I didn't even know that such a classification system existed, but as I said, my Internet excursion into information about snow taught me quite a bit about this frosty precipitation.
My next stop was All About Snow, a site hosted by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, where I found fascinating information on historic blizzards and learned how American cities have dealt with snowstorms since the 1700's. This site also offers fascinating facts about snow. For instance, I learned that just about every location in the United States has seen snow, even most portions of southern Florida. I also learned that, based on National Weather Service records, Rochester, New York, is the snowiest large city in the United States. The portion of this site titled The Cryosphere includes information on those areas on the Earth covered by ice, snow, glaciers, frozen ground, and permafrost.
I next set out in search of some fun sites. The SnowCastle LumiLinna, would be fun to visit in person, but even my virtual visit via the Internet was quite interesting. The snow castle, located in Kemi, Lapland, is an intricate full-size castle built of ice and snow. It includes a SnowRestaurant, SnowHotel, and SnowChapel. If you visit this website, be sure to press the "English" button to change the text from Finnish to English, and don't miss the SnowCastle image gallery.
Another fun website comes courtesy of an ad agency named Barkley Evergreen & Partners. Their Make-a-Flake website let's you create your own virtual snowflake with on-screen paper and scissors. You can try this once for the novelty of it or spend hours creating just the right snowflake.
If you're a real snow bunny, you'll want to check out OnTheSnow.com where you can find up-to-date information on snow fall, snow sports, and ski resorts. Another interesting site for skiers, as well as those who like to sit by the fireplace, is SnowEye.com, a compilation of 2981 webcams located in ski resorts in 40 countries around the world. Some links go directly to the webcams, while others go to websites where you have to search for the webcam link, but all are interesting.
The best part of surfing for snow information on the Internet is that you can do it from a nice warm room in your own comfortable home. So "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."
Additional Resources
Exploring Native Snow Terms sponsored by The Denali Foundation and The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative
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About the Author
Sandy Berger is a nationally-known author and has written several books on computers.
