IS IT SAFE TO EAT SNOW?

The short answer is “no,” but the long answer is, “depends.”

Consuming snow is like eating a big bowl of ice cream. It will make you cold on the inside until your body has time to convert it to body temperature. When you are already cold to begin with, your body has to work harder to warm up the water than the energy you will get from it. That’s the no.

The depends answer comes into play if you’re dehydrated. Consuming manageable amounts of snow (if you have no way of melting it) is a good thing if your body truly needs the liquid.

The best option in any scenario is to use body heat from activity to melt snow or put a container of snow under the hood and let the engine melt it. Either way, you should always be planning ahead for if/when you run out of water. If you have a sealable container, put it in between your layers of clothing near your core and keep stirring it with something often to melt it down quicker. The snow-towater ratio is about a 10 to 1, so it takes a lot of snow to get a little water. Still, it's better than nothing.