A Wonderleaf question
Why does snow fall instead of rain?
a real page from the book
Snow falls instead of rain when frozen cloud crystals travel through air that stays cold enough all the way down. If the lower air is above freezing, those crystals melt before they reach us, and the same water arrives as rain. Temperature decides the landing.
The lovely part is that many raindrops began high overhead as ice. A warm layer can erase the snowflake shape on the way down, while colder air lets crystals meet, cling, and grow into flakes soft enough for a mittened child to study before they vanish.
Wonder words
- crystals
- freezing
- vapor
- sleet
Try it out
Hold an ice cube over a cup and notice how changing warmth turns solid water into drops.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookKeep wondering
- Why do mountains change the weather?
- Why is frost sparkly?
- Why is the sky sometimes gray?
- Why do clouds change shape?
- How do meteorologists predict the weather?
- Why does the air smell different after rain?
One more wonder: Why is space so dark?
And the next question?
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