What temperature does it snow?

javala · ‎03-10-2010

It was 19 degrees outside and it was snowing steady how can that be?

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080113133919AA63iuo

It really depends on the conditions of the upper atmosphere, where snowflakes form. There are three criteria that must be met in order for snow to form:

(A) The air must contain sufficient moisture.
(B) The air must be forced upward.
(C) The air must cool to 0ºC (32ºF) or below as it rises.

That means that the temperature on the ground has a little wiggle room. In fact, it could snow when the ground temperature is, say, 35ºF, as long as the air above it is colder.

Freezing rain starts off as snow at high altitude, then encounters slightly warmer air on the way down that causes the snow to melt before it lands. However, it then plunges into sub-freezing temperatures again and becomes supercooled. The rain will freeze as soon as it hits a surface, which explains why freezing rain leads to extremely hazardous driving conditions.

So to answer your question, there's no particular temperature that the ground-level air has to be at in order for snow to form, but the upper-level air must definitely be at or below freezing.

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

and of course there is also sleet and hail.

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Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I know when I was a kid I used to hear the 'old timers' say that "it was too cold to snow". And that really isn't true. Like OP posted, there is a lot more to the science of weather than meets the eye.