You see, snow isn’t actually white. It turns out that snow is colorless and translucent

Hello kiddos,

This is Professor Mordy Maven, Thinker, Wonderer, and Figure  Outer of all things Science-ish. What that basically means is I try really hard to figure stuff out. I do the hard work so you don’t have to!

Yesterday, my friends and I were walking home from school when out of the clear blue sky, I suddenly I felt like my face was being licked by tiny, icy, wet splotches. I tried covering my head with my hands but that same sloppy cold feeling hit them instead. What was happening? Was I being attacked by invisible, slobbery dogs? I rushed inside and ran right up to my room. After poring over my books, I realized that what had fallen on top of me was actually… snow.

But Mordy, what is this thing of which you speak? Why is it wet and cold? Why does it land on your face and hands? Could this happen to me?

Calm down, my friends! Give me a minute and I’ll explain everything.

First of all, let me reassure you that there is no such thing as invisible slobbery dogs falling from the sky.

But something else does fall from the sky: Snow is a type of precipitation that falls from the sky in cold weather. It forms when water vapor in the atmosphere freezes into ice crystals and then collects on top of tiny pieces of dirt.

(And you thought snow was pure and clean. Wrong!) When a number of these crystals stick together, they form falling white flakes. (Just like dandruff!)