CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the Charlotte area this time of year, it seems almost everyone is hoping for a good snow. But when it doesn't happen when the temperature is cold, you may hear people around town saying it's "too cold too snow."
But is this even true? Well, the easy answer is no.
Meteorologists aren’t really sure where the myth came from but it's inaccurate. Remember, it snows in Antarctica!
Although snow has become rarer in Charlotte, it has nothing to do with temperatures being too low.
When moist air rises and cools, water vapor clings to floating particles of dust or pollen. If it’s cold enough, the water freezes into the complex crystals we call snow.
But it's moisture that's a more important factor in the development of snow, rather than temperature.
This is why certain locations, like near the Great Lakes, experience lake-effect snow. The lake infuses moisture into the atmosphere, feeding the process and building feet of snow.
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While it can’t be too cold to snow, we often won’t see heavy snowfall when it’s below 15 degrees -- and there’s even less snow below zero. The reason behind that is the frigid air is too dry to produce larger flakes to make it down to the ground.
As the air gets colder and colder, snow crystals form, but they don’t develop into the fluffy large flakes we might like due to the lack of water in the atmosphere.
Similar to Virga during warmer times of the year, the precipitation will evaporate after leaving the cloud bottom.
RELATED: What is Virga?
The only temperature at which snow is an impossibility is absolute zero – which is the lowest theoretical temperature in the world and the point in which no more heat can be removed.
This is important to remember: Absolute zero is a theoretical temperature and something humans have never experienced.
Absolute zero is colder than we can comprehend; in Fahrenheit, it’s 460 degrees below zero.
Contact Brittany Van Voorhees at bvanvoorhe@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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