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Ideal conditions for champagne powder

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FrankerZ
Posts: 223 - Karma: 1,129
What are the ideal conditions for that light fluffy powder in terms of temperature, air pressure etc. The alps are having a big storm for christmas and the temperature might be going as low as -20 celcius and i'm wondering on how it's gonna affect the snow quality.
Dec 24 2014 8:57AM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
There's a shitload of factors (humidity, wind, cloud dynamics, etc..) determining snow quality but one of the primary ones is the temperature in the air. The colder the air is the 'dryer' the snow and the character of the pack depends on the amount of liquid water that is trapped between crystals, the less, the lighter the pack. The entire explanation requires several pages with many disclaimers, graphs, sources and I can't be bothered so:

In general: The lower the temperature = the better the pow becomes.
Dec 24 2014 9:24AM
6 0
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MLJ
Posts: 1849 - Karma: 3,649
omnidataThere's a shitload of factors (humidity, wind, cloud dynamics, etc..) determining snow quality but one of the primary ones is the temperature in the air. The colder the air is the 'dryer' the snow and the character of the pack depends on the amount of liquid water that is trapped between crystals, the less, the lighter the pack. The entire explanation requires several pages with many disclaimers, graphs, sources and I can't be bothered so:

In general: The lower the temperature = the better the pow becomes.


Hmm, I always thought the best/ most snow happens when the temp is just below freezing.

I reeeaally hope we get some snow in Switzerland, we had some last week, but that barely set down a base so we really need some more snow now.
Dec 24 2014 10:24AM
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Steasyskia
Posts: 34 - Karma: 353
Im in Serfaus, Austria right now. It's the worst i have ever seen. Gonna snow all day for like a week starting tomorrow, real good pow according to a local i was talking to... long overdue.
Dec 24 2014 11:34AM
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caucasian_chad
Posts: 4078 - Karma: 3,625
Montana.
Dec 24 2014 5:20PM
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