A snowy environment

Written by: Caroline Kim

January 2, 2022

It’s officially 2022, and we have our first snow day of the year tomorrow. Schools are canceled in the D.C. area where I live, and students are all excited to have an extra day of winter break. In honor of this season's first true snow day, I thought I’d make this week's post about snow. Many love snow for the activities it brings or for the view, and others seem to dread it because it adds more hassle and cold weather. But what are the environmental impacts that snow brings to nature? Is snow good? Bad?

Snow often positively impacts the environment and works to not only regulate the climate, but also organisms and water systems. For example, the high reflectivity of snow helps cool down the earth. On the other hand, what is known as “blankets of snow” can quite literally form a barrier that traps heat below the surface of a layer of snow .This keeps plants, fungi, and other small animals below the layer of snow, warm. In some sense, this partial warmth that the snow brings allows organisms to thrive. Even within the water systems, snow proves beneficial: the melted snow flows into lakes, ponds, rivers. Winter snows help comprise many and sometimes the majority of bodies of water. Melted snow can also be beneficial to plants by acting as a source of water that may not have ideally existed had it not snowed.

Although there are many benefits that come from snow, an issue is that excess snow can cause more flooding in the spring season and landslides. Extensive quantities of snow, when melted, can overflow rivers and ponds, which may be a cause for concern. The rapid melting of snow can ensue with landslides and higher amounts of debri.

Those are the fundamental impacts of snow on the environment; what do you think? Does snow outweigh the good or the bad? Personally, I’d say that snow has an overall positive impact on our environment, and as always I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sources:

McDonough, Margo. “A Healthy Snowfall Offers Variety of Environmental Benefits.” A Healthy Snowfall Offers Variety of Environmental Benefits : University of Delaware, 2011, http://www1.udel.edu/udaily/2011/jan/snow-environment-011911.html.

“National Snow and Ice Data Center.” Environment : Climate | National Snow and Ice Data Center, 2020, https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/seaice/environment/global_climate.html.

“Snowmelt Runoff and the Water Cycle Completed.” Snowmelt Runoff and the Water Cycle | U.S. Geological Survey, 12 July 2019, https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/snowmelt-runoff-and-water-cycle.