CHAPTER IV 

 SNOW AND ICE 



DURING the winter season opportunities should be taken 

 to make observations on snow. Snowstorms are relatively 

 infrequent in our area. In other words, they do not occur so 

 frequently that they cease to interest the child, and with the 

 help of this interest much can be learnt from them. The snow 

 should be measured, in some open locality where there has 

 been no drifting, by means of a stick. That in the rain gauge 

 should also be melted to show the relative great bulk of snow. 

 The simplest way of doing this is to add to the snow in a vessel 

 a measured amount of warm water. When this has caused 

 melting, the whole should be measured, and the amount of water 

 added subtracted. 



The actual amount of water produced varies greatly with the 

 type of snow, whether it be light and powdery or dense, but a very 

 ordinary rough estimate is that one foot of snow makes an inch of 

 rain. The meaning of this should be emphasised by the help 

 of actual experiments on different occasions. Careful observa- 

 tion should also be directed to showing that in this country no 

 great depth of snow falls, the occasional blocking of roads and rail- 

 ways being always due to drifting, and not to the actual snowfall. 

 When the snow is especially light and powdery, the opportunity 

 should be taken to show, with the help of a lens, the beautiful 

 crystalline forms which it takes. A calm day must be chosen 

 for this observation, as on windy days the crystals become matted 

 together, and are broken and irregular. Further, as each shower 

 of snow usually only produces one type of snow crystals, the ob- 

 servations should be repeated frequently, to give an idea of the 

 number of types which exist. An attempt should be made to show 

 that the crystals are built up of tiny filaments of ice, and are of 

 all degrees of complexity. At the same time, attention should 



