Snow

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Snow in Holme, West Yorkshire, winter 1978
Snow in Holme, West Yorkshire, winter 1978

Snow is the frozen ice crystals of rain. When clouds are full they pour out rain but in cold weather ice crystals fall out as soft little flakes that are called snowflakes. The word snow comes from an older version of English from a long time ago called Old English. Back then, it was called snaw

At a certain temperature (called the freezing point, 0° Celsius, 32° Fahrenheit: Celsius and Fahrenheit are systems used to read temperature), snow melts away and becomes water. Sometimes, the snow will melt very fast and become water vapor, which is water in the air. This is called sublimation. The opposite where water vapor becomes snow is called deposition.

Snow is needed for some winter sport activities like skiing and sledding (slalom). People can also play with snow and build things out of it, such as snowmen and snowballs.