{"id":191206,"date":"2026-04-09T19:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191206\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T19:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:00:26","slug":"ask-dr-universe-queens-gazette-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191206\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Dr. Universe – Queens Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dr. Universe:\u00a0What makes fluffy snow turn into crunchy, slippery, icy snow? \u2014 Penelope, 11, New York state<\/p>\n

Dear Penelope,<\/p>\n

I love the feel of freshly fallen, fluffy snow. But then it turns crunchy and wet. That feels yucky under my paws.<\/p>\n

I asked my friend Jaitun Patel why that happens. She\u2019s a data scientist at Washington State University\u2019s AgWeatherNet. She makes sure weather stations put out reliable data. She told me that fluffy snow turns crunchy because of how falling snowflakes land then melt and refreeze. Snow forms when water vapor freezes way up in the clouds. That makes ice crystals called snowflakes. Snowflakes look different depending on the conditions when they form. Some look star-shaped. They have lacy or fern-like arms that stick out. Others are flatter or have plate-like arms. No matter how they look, all snowflakes have six sides or points.<\/p>\n

When snowflakes fall, they land in different positions. One might land on its arm. Another might land on its flat part. If you look closely at a pile of fresh snow, you\u2019ll see snowflakes frozen in a loosely packed jumble. There\u2019s lots of empty space in that haphazard pile of snowflakes. \u201cFresh snow is more like a pile of feathers,\u201d Patel said. \u201cThere are many air pockets between the snowflakes\u2014and that\u2019s why the snow\u2019s so fluffy and soft.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you walk on fluffy snow, it probably sounds swooshy or squeaky. But then the sun comes out. The sun\u2019s warmth melts the top layer of fluffy snow. That makes liquid water that oozes into the air pockets between the snowflakes in the deeper layers of snow. If the temperature drops again\u2014like when the sun goes down\u2014the snow refreezes. The liquid water between snowflakes freezes, too. Now the snow is dense and packed together. The air pockets are full of ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine you have a glass of crushed ice,\u201d Patel said. \u201cThen you pour in some water to fill the spaces between ice cubes. If you refreeze it, it makes a block of ice. That\u2019s what happens outside, too.\u201d Outside, the snow can melt and refreeze over and over as the daily temperatures rise and fall. Each time it freezes, the ice becomes denser. That can make a thick layer of ice.<\/p>\n

When you walk on that ice, it\u2019s slippery and brittle. The ice crystals break and rub together. That makes a crunchy sound. The level of crunch depends on how cold it is. At lower temps, the ice crystals are harder and more brittle, which means crunchier snow. As you walk, your steps create pressure and a tiny bit of heat. That\u2014plus the sun\u2019s warmth\u2014melts the snow even more. It becomes less crisp and more sloshy.<\/p>\n

You could say that, after a fresh snowfall, the texture is a slippery slope\u2014from fluffy to crunchy to mushy to\u2026gone.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Dr. Universe<\/p>\n

Ask Dr. Universe is a science-education project from Washington State University. Visit AskDrUniverse.wsu.edu to read more Q&A\u2019s, or to send in a science question of your own \u2013 or that of a kid you know \u2013 for a chance to be featured in a future Q&A. Or you can write to: Ask Dr. Universe Washington State University ITB 2013B Pullman, WA 99164<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A farmer named Wilson Bentley took these photos in 1902. Each snowflake has a different shape\u2014but they all have six sides. \u00a9NOAA<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When snow falls, it lands in different positions\u2014even when it doesn\u2019t land on the ground like these. You can see lots of space between these snowflakes. \u00a9Thomas Bresson CC BY 2.0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Universe:\u00a0What makes fluffy snow turn into crunchy, slippery, icy snow? \u2014 Penelope, 11, New York state Dear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-191206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}