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May, 2025

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What makes snow sticky?

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El.
Posts: 221 - Karma: 845
I have been told that skis slide not on the snow but on a thin layer of liquid water that the bases slide on. So why is it that when it rains on snow it gets sticky and slow?
11 years ago
45 7
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yangumane
Posts: 1816 - Karma: 3,349
Some snow, regardless of how much we get, just won’t pack and stick together. There is a simple reason for this… the snow literally isn’t “sticky”. That non-packing snow forms when we see a snowfall during very cold temps that are well below freezing. We are talking about temperatures in the low to mid teens. There is less moisture in the atmosphere at these temperatures so the snow flakes tend to be small and almost “dry”. On the other hand, wet packing snow is seen when it snow with a temperature closer to freezing (32°). At these temperatures, the snow flakes have more moisture in the atmoshpere to latch on to. The extra moisture acts like a sort of “glue” that bind the flakes together when they are packed.

from http://www.addins.wrex.com/blogs/weather/2012/12/what-makes-packing-snow
11 years ago
5 2
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*ninja*
Posts: 2108 - Karma: 1,144
well op you could google it
11 years ago
10 0
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DIX~
Posts: 4695 - Karma: 6,502
My dick
11 years ago
1 1
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trueheads
Posts: 83 - Karma: 252
excess goat semen from the terrain park.
11 years ago
18 1
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Evan.A
Posts: 89 - Karma: 349
no its all the spit used to wax rails...
11 years ago
0 1
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JahJahBinks
Posts: 3567 - Karma: 461
11 years ago
2 0
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skiersupreme
Posts: 1549 - Karma: 4,872
those darn goats
11 years ago
1 0
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3609 - Karma: 3,977
Global Warming
11 years ago
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freestyler540
Posts: 13231 - Karma: 20,386
sticky snow is caused by a change in humidity in the snow. As moisture rises in snow (in higher temperatures) the crystals break down and the moisture in between the snow will hover below freezing. This gives the humidity in the snow to migrate and condense on a particle of snow or ice, and then freeze to bond one particle to another. On a wide scale, this can be seen as the sticky effect.

In fact, for snow to fall, this process is essential to flake formation. As the water droplets from the clouds freezes, it captures another droplet and freezes. The high humidity in the clouds lets the moisture migrate until it finds a particle The process goes on until the flake is too heavy and precipitate for the cloud.
11 years ago
1 0
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slaagmaster
Posts: 129 - Karma: 63
gaper snot that's wot!!!!!
11 years ago
0 0
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dvx100
Posts: 1884 - Karma: 4,821
you could use correct grammar for "that's" but couldn't even spell "what"

I'm confused.
11 years ago
1 1
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Lemuel
Posts: 14544 - Karma: 11,157
The snow is fast when it rains. Sounds like your skis need to be waxed.
11 years ago
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FullStack
Posts: 288 - Karma: 274
Or rocket skis
11 years ago
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Substitute
Posts: 1378 - Karma: 2,275
Obama that is why.
11 years ago
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phillyblunt
Posts: 92 - Karma: 35
Actually, it has not been proven that skis melt the snow. This may be true for ice skates, but for a surface area as large as the bases of a pair of skis, it would take too much energy to melt even a microscopic layer of snow without noticing it slowing you down. When fresh snow warms up, you get snow sticking together by the effect discussed by freestyler540 above, combined with a suction effect onto the bottom of your skis. When the snow gets to corn conditions, this doesn't happen anymore because there is enough water between frozen pieces, so the pieces don't stick together, and the pieces are large enough, to not form a uniformly flat surface to suction onto your skis.
11 years ago
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Matt5838
Posts: 321 - Karma: 335
When it's really wet
11 years ago
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HuckNorris44
Posts: 1025 - Karma: 2,394
Like Op's Moms beaver?
11 years ago
0 0
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