TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT SNOW

1. The deepest snow ever recorded in an inhabited area was1.65 metres near Ruthin in North Wales in 1946-47.

2. It doesn’t have to be freezing to snow. The air temperature does need to be at or below freezing for snow to fall.

3. Scotland sees the most snow in the UK, with snow or sleet falling on 52 days on average.

4. Every snowflake is unique, if you look closely you will see countless individual features, all having formed ever so slightly differently in direction or shape.

5. Snow isn’t white, while snowflakes appear white as they fall or as they accumulate on the ground as snowfall, they are totally clear.

6. Most snow falls at a speed of between 1-4mph dependent upon the individual snowflakes mass and surface area, as well as the environmental conditions surrounding its descent.

7. The first person to capture a photograph of a snowflake was a farmer Wilson Bentley from the small town of Jericho in Vermont, US in 1885.

8. Recent studies suggest that Eskimos have many more words for snow than in English.

9. Originating from the Greek chion meaning snow, and phobos for fear, the word Chionophobia is used to describe the condition of being afraid of snow.

10. Those who love a ‘White Christmas’ should be heartened to hear that snow has at least fallen on Christmas Day somewhere in the UK 38 times in the last 52 years.