Snow can be heavy or light depending on what type of snow is falling. A snow blizzard requires a lot of wind and snow to produce the windy snow blowing effect that appears in times of a storm. Snow appears when the air is cold and forms iced water droplets, that fall to the ground as snow. Due to the many different snowflakes that are made there are different types of snow. It is interesting to find out what these different types of are, and what various forms they are made into. There are many more types of snow than we can imagine, and they are all produced in different ways.
* Slush *
As the air temperature comes up higher than below zero the snow starts to melt forming slush. The snow crystals turn into larger forms of ice causing a slippery and mushy appearance that we call slush. The wetter the snow becomes the more slush is produced. Slush makes it more difficult to travel on roads that it covers, it is not very good for people who are doing sports, such as, snowmobiling as it makes manoeuvres harder.
* Powder *
Powder is snow that has just freshly fallen, it is soft in appearance and texture. It is formed in thick layers and has a smooth surface, it is easily compacted and not hard. Although this is a better type of snow to drive on it is can still be tricky, and care must be taken while driving in any type of snow.
* Crust *
When a hard surface is formed on top of powder snow, this is known as crust snow. The sun and wind melt the top layer of snow, then the cold air temperature makes it solid again, forming the crust. This type of snow can be hard, or it can be so thin that it can be cracked easily.
* Crud *
Powdered snow gets piled up and packed in places where people have driven on it, or walked, this is when it is called crud. The mixture of soft snow and ice patches are a result of the snow being packed down. It usually causes an uneven surface and texture, being a mix of hard and soft snow.
Granular is also another form of snow, it comes in the form of pellets. It can come in loose pellet form or wet pellets can also form, there is also granular snow that is the consistency of sugar. Corn snow is usually seen in the spring it is caused by daily thawing and nightly freezing. This snow is wet and granular, it can have a sloppy appearance, a little like slush. As you can see there are many different types of snow, although it looks nice, it can be a hazard, so the key is to take care when doing any activities in snow.
