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Woman: Today kids ask:
Child: What makes it snow?
Woman: Snow may seem magical, but there's actually some interesting science behind the
fluffy white flakes that fall from the sky in the winter.
Just like rain, snow begins in the clouds. Clouds are made of tiny water droplets that
have evaporated into a gas, risen up into the sky, and condensed back into water. As
tiny water droplets they remain suspended in
the air, but the water droplets soon join together into larger, heavier droplets and
become too heavy to stay in the air.
When this happens, precipitation will fall. Precipitation is water that falls from the
sky, but there are several different kinds. If temperatures are warm enough, water falls
as rain. If temperatures are freezing, but only near the ground, the raindrops will freeze
when they hit the ground. This is called freezing rain. If the layer of cold air is thicker,
the raindrops will freeze while still in the air, falling as separate ice pellets called
sleet. Snow only occurs when temperatures are freezing all the way from the cloud to
the ground.
The loose, open structure of snowflakes means that snow contains a lot of air, which is
the reason that snow is soft and fluffy instead hard and icy.
Although it may not be true that 'no two snowflakes are alike,' snowflakes may form in many different
shapes in a variety of complicated structures. If you go outside while it's snowing and catch
some snowflakes on something dark, like a glove or a piece of black paper, you may be
able to see their structures for yourself.
Well, that's what makes it snow. Did that answer your question?
Child: Yeah, that helped me a lot! If you liked this video too, you should click on
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Goodbye till next time!