Some smart scientific person...

[vraiblonde]

...please explain why snow makes temps feel warmer?

28 degrees feels bitter cold, but when it's snowy that same 28 degrees doesn't feel so bad.

Why is that? Or is it just my imagination?

 

[glitch]

I'd say that it's because snow is usually around 32 degrees, instead of 28. It's also because it tends to have an insulating effect. Trapping any errant heat around it. Or it could be the sun shining back off the snow and warming the air. Just guesses.

 

[Dye Tied]

It is not your imagination. It's very cold outside but my heat is kicking on less from the natural insulation power of snow.

 

[RoseRed]

Cloud cover.

 

[Larry Gude]

...please explain why snow makes temps feel warmer?

28 degrees feels bitter cold, but when it's snowy that same 28 degrees doesn't feel so bad.

Why is that? Or is it just my imagination?

It acts as an insulator. Same reason why igloos are warm. Relatively speaking. The molecules are closer together than the air, obviously, thus it acts as an insulator.

 

[Tilted]

I suspect it's mostly a psychological effect, but there are certainly real, physical reasons which might have a marginal effect on how warm it feels.

For instance, the white covering on everything reflects light instead of absorbing it - so more light rays reach your skin. I'm sure you can relate to how it feels warmer when it is 40 degrees and sunny than it does when it is 40 degrees and overcast.

 

[Tilted]

Oh, and of course it depends on what context you are talking about - whether you are talking about being in a snow covered house, or in an igloo as Larry referenced, or laying in the snow, or just outside with snow on the ground.

 

[vraiblonde]

For instance, the white covering on everything reflects light instead of absorbing it - so more light rays reach your skin. I'm sure you can relate to how it feels warmer when it is 40 degrees and sunny than it does when it is 40 degrees and overcast.

Okay, that makes sense. Because it does feel warmer to me outside than it did yesterday at the same temperature.

 

[vraiblonde]

just outside with snow on the ground.

^ This ^

Inside the house, I understand - insulating, like others said. But I was curious why it would feel warmer outside with snow on the ground than when there's no snow.

 

[outlawrc]

...please explain why snow makes temps feel warmer?

28 degrees feels bitter cold, but when it's snowy that same 28 degrees doesn't feel so bad.

Why is that? Or is it just my imagination?

I know I was warmer, heck I was sweating shoveling all that snow.

 

[PsyOps]

...please explain why snow makes temps feel warmer?

28 degrees feels bitter cold, but when it's snowy that same 28 degrees doesn't feel so bad.

Why is that? Or is it just my imagination?

I don't know what the heck you're talking about... It was crapping cold out there shoveling.

 

[Larry Gude]

I know I was warmer, heck I was sweating shoveling all that snow.

 

[Beaver-Cleaver]

I don't know what the heck you're talking about... It was crapping cold out there shoveling.

 

[PsyOps]

I suspect it's mostly a psychological effect, but there are certainly real, physical reasons which might have a marginal effect on how warm it feels.

For instance, the white covering on everything reflects light instead of absorbing it - so more light rays reach your skin. I'm sure you can relate to how it feels warmer when it is 40 degrees and sunny than it does when it is 40 degrees and overcast.

The only thing that was reaching my skin was stinking cold!

COLD... YOU HEAR ME?!

AND IT'S ABOUT TO GET COLDER!

GLOBAL WARMING MY @#$

 

[Larry Gude]

CLIMATE CHANGE MY @#$

Climate changed around here the last 48 hours.

 

[Tilted]

Okay, that makes sense. Because it does feel warmer to me outside than it did yesterday at the same temperature.

Well, if you're comparing it to yesterday before the rain/sleet started, then there is another difference that is likely responsible. I'm fairly certain that the air outside today, after the system had moved through, was drier than it was yesterday when the system was moving in. More moisture in the air will certainly make it feel colder.

Water has a higher specific heat capacity than the air does - in other words, it stores more energy (of lacks more energy) than air does at the same temperature. Basically, that means it has the ability to suck heat from you at a faster rate than air does. So, if there is more water in the air, then it will feel colder, even if the temperature is the same.

Think of it like this - if you were to go outside when it was 45 degrees, it might feel cold - but not nearly as cold as it would feel if you were to jump into 45 degree water.

 

[PsyOps]

Climate changed around here the last 48 hours.

There, fixed.

 

[Larry Gude]

Water has a higher specific heat capacity than the air does - in other words, it stores more energy (of lacks more energy) than air does at the same temperature. Basically, that means it has the ability to suck heat from you at a faster rate than air does. So, if there is more water in the air, then it will feel colder, even if the temperature is the same.

Think of it like this - if you were to go outside when it was 45 degrees, it might feel cold - but not nearly as cold as it would feel if you were to jump into 45 degree water.

In sul a shun.

 

[Larry Gude]

There, fixed.

I'm counting on the globe to warm tomorrow AM. It's freaking cold right now.

 

[Tilted]

In sul a shun.

Yeah, but the dynamic I'm talking about isn't quite the same thing as an insulative effect. It's not that the snow is a medium slowing the transference of thermal energy from the air to you. It's that the moist air has a greater thermal energy delta with you, than dry air at the same temperature would. And, based on thermodynamic principles, that means that your thermal energy will flow to it quicker.