Completely off-topic help needed :)

[[email protected]]

One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
irrelevant question!

Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
right?)?

Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,

Ramapriya

[joe]

You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on


On Nov 14, 10:16 am, wrote:
> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
> irrelevant question!
>
> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
> right?)?
>
> Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,
>
> Ramapriya

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN[_2_]]

joe wrote:
> You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on



You definitely get some clues from the clouds. Every time I've ever seen it
snow, it's been cold but not too cold (right at freezing but not too much below
or above) and there has been a low heavy looking stratus layer of clouds. They
look relatively dark, indicating there's a lot of moisture and the cloud layer
is fairly deep. Now, when I see these conditions, it doesn't necessarily snow.
But every time I've seen it snow, I see those conditions.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

[Neil Gould]

Recently, > posted:

> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
> irrelevant question!
>
> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
> right?)?
>
> Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,
>
If you look at the clouds and it looks like it will rain, but the
temperatures are below 32° F, it will most likely snow...

Neil

[Tauno Voipio]

joe wrote:
> You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on

Another vote for that - I'd also like to know whether
the substance just now coming is water or snow (and
it's perfectly normal at this time of the year here
in the far North, Helsinki, Finland, 60 deg N).

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

>
> On Nov 14, 10:16 am, wrote:
>
>>One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
>>you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
>>seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
>>knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
>>probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
>>correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
>>irrelevant question!
>>
>>Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
>>right?)?
>>
>>Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,
>>
>>Ramapriya
>
>

[[email protected]]

Tauno Voipio wrote:
> joe wrote:
> > You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
>
> Another vote for that - I'd also like to know whether the substance just now coming is water or
> snow (and it's perfectly normal at this time of the year here in the far North, Helsinki, Finland,
> 60 deg N).


Think I'll give him Neil's answer because it looks nice and logical
too. I remember similar Qs at school regarding impending heavy rainfall
and answering, "Dark, low clouds". I wondered if snow meant clouds
being pure white, which apparently is not!

And what do u mean you can't tell whether what's falling is rain or
snow?

Ramapriya

[Robert M. Gary]

wrote:
> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
> irrelevant question!
>
> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
> right?)?

I'm from California but wouldn't the cloud be full of snow if its
getting ready to snow? Can you see the snow in the cloud?

-Robert

[Tauno Voipio]

wrote:
> Tauno Voipio wrote:
>
>>joe wrote:
>>
>>>You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
>>
>>Another vote for that - I'd also like to know whether the substance just now coming is water or
>>snow (and it's perfectly normal at this time of the year here in the far North, Helsinki, Finland,
>>60 deg N).
>
>
>
> Think I'll give him Neil's answer because it looks nice and logical
> too. I remember similar Qs at school regarding impending heavy rainfall
> and answering, "Dark, low clouds". I wondered if snow meant clouds
> being pure white, which apparently is not!
>
> And what do u mean you can't tell whether what's falling is rain or
> snow?

When the temperature is at zero C, there is a snowfall
with the snow crystals wet with water, so the material
coming nearly horizontally and chilling your face is
both snow and rain (slush?). Of course, there is an own
word in the local language for it, though we do not have
as many different words for different kinds of snow as
in the Eskimo languages.

Could the question contain the idea that the rain falling
is only cold enough when it is coming from a CB or TCU?

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

[[email protected]]

Tauno Voipio wrote:
>
> When the temperature is at zero C, there is a snowfall with the snow crystals
> wet with water, so the material coming nearly horizontally and chilling your face is
> both snow and rain (slush?). Of course, there is an own word in the local language for it,


Wonder if it's sleet you're talking of? I haven't seen that either :(

Ramapriya

[Jim Macklin]

Most rain begins as frozen water, at high altitudes. Then
the snow or sleet melts on the way down into warmer air. In
your dry desert air, you get virga, which is falling water
evaporating in the lower, dry air.

The amount of water available for precipitation can be
judged by the density [darkness] of the cloud. But it can
snow from clear air, as water vapor sublimates directly to
crystal form.

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/C2DF8D9D7471617786256A020078083A?OpenDocument

This link is to AC 00-6, in several PDF files, it has many
answers.



> wrote in message
ups.com...
| Tauno Voipio wrote:
| > joe wrote:
| > > You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
| >
| > Another vote for that - I'd also like to know whether
the substance just now coming is water or
| > snow (and it's perfectly normal at this time of the year
here in the far North, Helsinki, Finland,
| > 60 deg N).
|
|
| Think I'll give him Neil's answer because it looks nice
and logical
| too. I remember similar Qs at school regarding impending
heavy rainfall
| and answering, "Dark, low clouds". I wondered if snow
meant clouds
| being pure white, which apparently is not!
|
| And what do u mean you can't tell whether what's falling
is rain or
| snow?
|
| Ramapriya
|

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

On 14 Nov 2006 08:35:16 -0800, "Robert M. Gary" > wrote in
. com>:

wrote:
>> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
>> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
>> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
>> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
>> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
>> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
>> irrelevant question!

>> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
>> right?)?

>I'm from California but wouldn't the cloud be full of snow if its
>getting ready to snow? Can you see the snow in the cloud?

I'm from Buffalo, and I have seen a fair amount of
snow both here and in Syracuse (which receives about
four or five more feet of snow than Buffalo does,
on average).

I can't see the snow in the cloud myself before it
falls. I haven't heard of any reliable method of
predicting which cloud will drop snow and which
won't.

I have recognized rainfall at a distance of a
couple of miles under the right conditions (across
a lake or in an open field in flat terrain). I've
never seen snow falling at that distance, though
perhaps that's because I don't spend enough time
outdoors in the winter.

Marty
--
The Big-8 hierarchies (comp, humanities, misc, news, rec, sci, soc, talk)
are under new management. See http://www.big-8.org for details.

[Tauno Voipio]

wrote:
> Tauno Voipio wrote:
>
>>When the temperature is at zero C, there is a snowfall with the snow crystals
>>wet with water, so the material coming nearly horizontally and chilling your face is
>>both snow and rain (slush?). Of course, there is an own word in the local language for it,
>
>
>
> Wonder if it's sleet you're talking of? I haven't seen that either :(
>
> Ramapriya
>

Right, that's the word.

Welcome to have a look at it!

It's a real salesman who can sell tourist trips to
the gloom & sleet we have now.

It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

[Andrew Gideon]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:39:38 -0800, joe wrote:

> You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on

Sure you can. If you get a snowflake in your eye when looking at the
clouds, it's snowing.

<Laugh>

- Andrew

[Guy Elden Jr]

> It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
> get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
> local authorities do not accept a night flight as
> night time for the time between first of May and
> last of August.

Wow... I had never thought of that before - an entire country of pilots
who are not night current as of July 31 every year. :) (at least by
the FAA rules)

--
Guy

[gatt]

> wrote in message
ups.com...

> Think I'll give him Neil's answer because it looks nice and logical
> too. I remember similar Qs at school regarding impending heavy rainfall
> and answering, "Dark, low clouds".


That's a good condition for snow, if the temperature is very close to
freezing. It won't help for class purposes, but locals will tell you that
you can smell it.

>And what do u mean you can't tell whether what's falling is rain or snow?

I would take this to mean, if there's warmer air beneath the snow cloud such
that the snow melts as it falls, the product is rain. Unless there is
unmelted snow in the rainfall, you can't tell whether the cloud is dropping
rain or snow which is melting into rain.

As far as strictly looking at a cloud without using other senses, I'd like
to hear the answer.

-c

[gatt]

"Andrew Gideon" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:39:38 -0800, joe wrote:
>
>> You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
>
> Sure you can. If you get a snowflake in your eye when looking at the
> clouds, it's snowing.

If all the kids are looking upward with their tongues sticking out, it's
snowing.

-c

[Judah]

Tauno Voipio > wrote in
:

> It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
> get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
> local authorities do not accept a night flight as
> night time for the time between first of May and
> last of August.

You must get a lot of Stop & Go's on the first week of September!

[Jay Honeck]

> I have recognized rainfall at a distance of a
> couple of miles under the right conditions (across
> a lake or in an open field in flat terrain). I've
> never seen snow falling at that distance, though
> perhaps that's because I don't spend enough time
> outdoors in the winter.

Flying in the winter in the Midwest I've seen snow squalls from quite a
ways off. They're quite similar to summertime thunderstorms, in that
they are isolated enough so that you can easily fly around them.

But I don't think you can tell a snow cloud by looking at it. Although
winter clouds DO look different than summer clouds, not all of them
produce snow.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Tauno Voipio]

Guy Elden Jr wrote:
>>It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
>>get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
>>local authorities do not accept a night flight as
>>night time for the time between first of May and
>>last of August.
>
>
> Wow... I had never thought of that before - an entire country of pilots
> who are not night current as of July 31 every year. :) (at least by
> the FAA rules)
>
> --
> Guy
>

Obviously, there are pilots in the authorities, as well.
It's not so difficult - you do not need the currency. Maybe
we had something to explain to the FAA if they were here.

The same phenomenon applies to all the Nordic countries
(or at least Iceland, Norway and Sweden).

There is the balance, of course. In the far North of the
country, the Sun stays below the horizon for months in
the middle of the winter.

For reference, currently we have daylight roughly from 8 am
till 4 pm.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

[Tauno Voipio]

Judah wrote:
> Tauno Voipio > wrote in
> :
>
>
>>It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
>>get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
>>local authorities do not accept a night flight as
>>night time for the time between first of May and
>>last of August.
>
>
> You must get a lot of Stop & Go's on the first week of September!

Right. It's particularly fascinating with a Turbo Arrow
in the middle of Cessna 150's.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

[Tauno Voipio]

Andrew Gideon wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:39:38 -0800, joe wrote:
>
>
>>You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
>
>
> Sure you can. If you get a snowflake in your eye when looking at the
> clouds, it's snowing.
>
> <Laugh>
>
> - Andrew
>

And if the flake is embedded in a waterdrop?

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

[Floyd L. Davidson]

wrote:
>One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
>you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
>seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
>knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
>probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
>correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
>irrelevant question!

There are two things that anyone who lives were I do can easily
tell you, 1) you can't look at a cloud and tell if it is going
to snow, and 2) Eskimos don't have any more works for snow than
people who speak other languages (English, for example).

It snows at least a trace on more than half the days here for
some 8 or 9 months of the year, and nearly half of the days even
in the months that have less snow. (Not that it ever adds up to
much, as we only get about 2 feet total in a whole year.)

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

[Floyd L. Davidson]

"Neil Gould" > wrote:
>Recently, > posted:
>
>> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
>> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
>> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
>> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
>> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
>> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
>> irrelevant question!
>>
>> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
>> right?)?
>>
>> Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,
>>
>If you look at the clouds and it looks like it will rain, but the
>temperatures are below 32° F, it will most likely snow...

Rain clouds almost always are darker (denser) if rain is likely.
Snow doesn't produce the same effect. I'd guess that snow reflects
light, while water absorbs it, but I don't really know if that is
what is happening.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" <mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com> wrote in message
...
> joe wrote:
>> You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on
>
>
>
> You definitely get some clues from the clouds. Every time I've ever seen it
> snow, it's been cold but not too cold (right at freezing but not too much
> below or above) and there has been a low heavy looking stratus layer of
> clouds. They look relatively dark, indicating there's a lot of moisture and
> the cloud layer is fairly deep. Now, when I see these conditions, it doesn't
> necessarily snow. But every time I've seen it snow, I see those conditions.

I can tell if it is going to snow when seeing one of those clouds 50% of the
time! <g>
--
Jim in NC

[Andrew Sarangan[_1_]]

wrote:
> One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
> you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
> seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
> knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
> probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
> correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
> irrelevant question!
>
> Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
> right?)?
>
> Thanks much in advance and apologies to the rest,
>
> Ramapriya


If the clouds look darker in color, then precipitation is more likely.
If the surface temperature is below zero, then it is likely to turn to
snow. But there is not a whole lot more you can conclude.

Note that these are all probabilities with lots of exceptions. Dark
clouds don't always mean precipitation, you can get virga
(precipitation that do not reach the ground), and you can get rain when
the surface temperature is below zero (freezing rain), and you can get
snow when the surface temp is above freezing (sleet).

Having lived in Canada and the U.S. midwest, I have seen plenty of
snow, sleet, freezing rain and everything in between.

[Don Tuite]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:58:04 -0900, (Floyd L.
Davidson) wrote:

wrote:
>>One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
>>you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
>>seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
>>knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
>>probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
>>correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
>>irrelevant question!
>
>There are two things that anyone who lives were I do can easily
>tell you, 1) you can't look at a cloud and tell if it is going
>to snow, and 2) Eskimos don't have any more works for snow than
>people who speak other languages (English, for example).
>
>It snows at least a trace on more than half the days here for
>some 8 or 9 months of the year, and nearly half of the days even
>in the months that have less snow. (Not that it ever adds up to
>much, as we only get about 2 feet total in a whole year.)

Is the answer, "When the clouds are above an igloo?"

Don