When your hand becomes wet with snow, it feels very cold. This is not a reflection of the temperature of the snow. Rather, this is the impact of the snow changing phases from ice to water and then to vapor by evaporation. This requires energy, which is taken from the heat of your skin, so your hand gets cold.
Actually, the temperature of snow on the ground is about the same as the temperature of the air unless the air is warmer than 32 degrees. Snow is ice and cannot be warmer than 32 degrees without melting. Another exception is if the snow pack is deep, as in more than a foot, in which case it acts like a blanket and traps the heat emanating from the earth, keeping the temperature at the bottom of a deep snow pack from getting very cold even if the air outside is frigid.
By John Wheeler
John Wheeler is Chief Meteorologist for WDAY, a position he has had since May of 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South, in Louisiana and Alabama, and cites his family's move to the Midwest as important to developing his fascination with weather and climate. Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa as a teenager. He attended Iowa State University and achieved a B.S. degree in Meteorology in 1984. Wheeler worked about a year at WOI-TV in central Iowa before moving to Fargo and WDAY..
