SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a

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• COMMON

common Indo-

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• EUROPEAN

European word; cf. in

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• TEUTONIC
• TEUTONIC (GERMANIC) LANGUAGES

Teutonic

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• LANGUAGES

languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in

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• SLAVONIC, OLD

Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a,

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• LAT

Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the

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• ORIGINAL

original  sense of the root may be to moisten, cf . Skt. sneha, moisture), that form of precipitation of water-vapour condensed from the atmosphere which reaches the ground in a frozen and crystalline condition . Snow thus occurs when the processes of condensation and fall take place at a temperature below 32° F . The crystals, which vary greatly in form, belong to the hexagonal system . They are formed upon a nucleus, in the same way as a raindrop, and sometimes reach the ground singly, but more commonly in small coherent masses or flakes . If in its passage from the upper atmosphere snow passes through a temperature above 32° F. it reaches the ground as sleet or rain (according to the degree of heat encountered), and thus after a fall of rain over lowlands, the higher parts of mountains in the vicinity may be seen to have received the fall as snow . See further CLIMATE and METEOROLOGY; and for the transformation of snow into ice under pressure, see GLACIER .