What Is The Highest Temperature Snow Can Fall At?

[Lightningboy]

Ok this is something thats confused me for a while

What is the Highest temperature that snow can fall at?

someone tells me is 2c

someone else tells me its 3c

[shuggee]

TWS's answer in the other thread about temperature and drizzle gives you a good idea:

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?s...t&p=1417869

[Lightningboy]

ok thankyou

[Dave J]

Ok this is something thats confused me for a while

What is the Highest temperature that snow can fall at?

someone tells me is 2c

someone else tells me its 3c

Well it could theoretically snow with an air temperatures as high as 8C, but you would need a dew point of -23C (RH: 11%) and this is extremely unlikely! In reality it's more like around 4C as an absolute limit in the UK (which still requires a dew point of -8C) and is likely to occur in Spring when you get a cold northerly outbreak with strong sunshine able to heat the air at the surface very quickly drying it out - then a heavy shower with a strong downdraft passing over which will lead to very strong evaporative cooling occurring reducing the air temperature to the wet bulb temperature (in this case around 0C) and snow to fall to the surface.

Edit - what TWS said basically.

Edited January 7, 2009 by Dave J

[Lightningboy]

thankyou for the help,

sounds interesting