Pat Shingleton: "Snow Events and Flakes..."
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One of the "best" snow events in our area occurred on this date in 2008 as snowfall depths ranged from three to eight inches.Two other snow events have occurred at this same time over the last ten years, including the December 8, 2017 event. Last year's snow episode also coincided with our Pat's Coats for Kids Distribution Day whereby only a few schools made it to the "back" parking lot of WBRZ for their coats. Fortunately, we re-scheduled the distribution to the following Monday without consequence. Stages of snow begin eight miles above the earth when water vapor condenses and liquefies. As the droplets grow, ice crystals form around tiny particles floating in the atmosphere. The third stage identifies snow crystals depicting a six-sided molecular structure and depending upon atmospheric temperatures they take on different forms as plates, needles, dendrites and hollow columns as additional water vapor condenses onto the crystals and enlarge. Weight causes them to fall into warmer air forming flakes.