- 2 days ago
Snow isn’t always white, and when it changes color, it can reveal hidden dangers that most people walk right over without noticing. Red snow, often called “watermelon snow,” gets its color from algae that can release toxins and make melting snow unsafe to drink. Yellow snow can signal chemical contamination from vehicles or industrial areas, while black snow often contains soot and particles that are harmful to breathe. Even green or orange snow can appear after unusual algal blooms or pollution events that warn scientists something is seriously off in the environment. And in this video, you’ll learn how each color of snow forms and why paying attention to it could actually keep you safe outdoors. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00Throwing a snowball to your friends, putting a carrot on the snow person of yours, skating, and many more.
00:06It's the snowy winter spirit. Here's some facts about snow.
00:10Surprisingly, snow can come in different colors. Let's start with yellow snow.
00:16If it starts snowing when flowering trees are already in bloom, pollen is in the air too.
00:21Besides giving you allergies, it lands on snow-covered surfaces.
00:25In this scenario, snow blends with pollen, which results in this suspiciously yellow shade.
00:32The snow clouds can carry sand particles too.
00:35Yellowish-tinged snow was seen in South Korea in March 2006.
00:40The snow got the sand from the deserts of northern China.
00:43Pollen is oftentimes harmless.
00:46But sand-caused yellow snow isn't that innocent. It's related to air pollution.
00:50When NASA's Aura satellite detected this phenomenon, weather officials warned the public about the potential risks of this golden snow.
01:00Sometimes the color of the snow looks closer to brown, not even yellow.
01:04Certain trees, like oaks, carry a lot of tannins in the bark.
01:08These are organic compounds that protect the tree from harmful bacteria and funguses.
01:13These tannins can fall to the ground near the tree.
01:17For that to happen, it first needs to rain, and then the rain should turn into snow.
01:21The moisture makes the tannins run down.
01:25Have you ever just laid on the fresh snow and opened your mouth to let those tiny flakes in?
01:31How safe is it to eat those flakes, though?
01:34In most cases, it isn't.
01:36But here's a pro tip for snow eaters.
01:37The safest way to consume snow is by choosing a clean and white layer.
01:43Get some from the freshly fallen fluffiest part.
01:45And now, forget about it.
01:47You never know what random show in the street may contain.
01:51Blue-tinted snow is the next one on the list.
01:54A cloudy day will create darker shadows.
01:57Snow absorbs all color wavelengths.
01:59Well, almost all color wavelengths.
02:01It cannot completely absorb blue.
02:03The bottom line is that bluish snow forms due to the weather conditions.
02:08I mean, the snowflakes are actually translucent, since they're made up of ice crystals.
02:14These crystals reflect light.
02:15That's why, in regular cases, snow appears white to our eyes.
02:21Gray and black snow also exist.
02:24Here, I'm not talking about melted snow mixed with dirt near the roads.
02:28The one I'm referring to is created with the dust coming from the volcano.
02:32But it can be created with less exotic soot, ash, or motor vehicle exhaust.
02:38This type of snow is dirty.
02:40It might have a dusty or oily scent.
02:43If its color comes from petrochemicals, then it's probably toxic.
02:47The next one is watermelon snow.
02:50The name comes from the red and green color of the snow.
02:54Unlike other color versions, this one has a sweet and fruity scent.
02:58Different kinds of algae and bacteria produce watermelon snow.
03:03You would be very lucky to see it because it's seen during summer in alpine and coastal polar regions.
03:10The greenness comes from chlorophyll, and the redness comes from astaxanthin.
03:14This is sort of a pigment.
03:17Fun fact!
03:17Some animals, such as flamingos, crabs, and salmon, also get their color from that pigment.
03:23This phenomenon is super important ecologically.
03:27When the snow melts, it mixes into the waters and becomes a food source for organisms.
03:33Snow can come in different colors, but also different shapes too.
03:38An example would be snow rollers.
03:40To me, it looks as if someone is dragging an ice cream scoop through the ground.
03:44They are rare phenomenon because they need certain conditions to form.
03:48There should be wind, but it shouldn't be too strong.
03:52Typically, 30 miles per hour should do it.
03:54Yet, it depends on the snow too.
03:56It should be snowing, and how powerful the snow falls is another issue.
04:02Snow rollers occur in open prairies or hills with no obstacles like boulders or trees.
04:08It's a combo of two separate layers of snow.
04:11The first layer is the pre-existing sheet that crashed on the ground.
04:15The second one is a fresh layer of fallen snow.
04:19Imagine snow running down from the top of an ice rink, which doesn't hold on to what's under.
04:25Then, the wind carries some snow that is sticky enough to hold on to the things on its way.
04:30As the roller moves, it continues growing.
04:33If it's windy, and there's an opportunity for rolling down a hill.
04:38Now, I want to move on to other cool facts about snow.
04:42For instance, it's silence.
04:43Do you know how freshly fallen snow absorbs sound?
04:47Especially if you live in a busy city, you realize it's the quieter ambience.
04:52It literally absorbs sound waves.
04:55Think of it as a commercial sound absorbing product.
04:58Things change when it melts and refreezes.
05:01Then, the ice reflects sound waves.
05:04As a result, sound travels further.
05:06Plus, it gets clearer.
05:08It's not just us enjoying the snow.
05:12Apparently, some monkey species love it as much as we do.
05:16Japanese macaques or snow monkeys also make snowballs and play with them.
05:21Young macaques especially get attracted to snow.
05:24They steal one another's snowballs, then fight to get them back.
05:27Snow, blizzard, what else?
05:30I can count some words related to snow.
05:33But the Inuit, for example, has dozens of words for snow.
05:37And Scots has 421 terms related to the snow.
05:41For instance, scalf is a large snowflake.
05:44And unbrac means the beginning of a thaw.
05:46From one point of view, there's the cold and the risk of hypothermia.
05:53From the other point of view, animal burrows or human igloos.
05:57We associate snow with cold.
05:59But it warms you up, since snow consists of above 90% trapped air.
06:04It's a perfect insulator.
06:06We talked about snow itself.
06:09But what about snowflakes?
06:11The shape of a snowflake is bound to the air temperature around it.
06:15Researchers examined snowflakes and found out that long, thin, needle-like ice crystals
06:21form at around 28 degrees Fahrenheit.
06:24They also investigated other ice crystal samples taken from different temperatures.
06:30The flakes appear to be flat and plate-like in lower temperatures, such as 23 degrees Fahrenheit.
06:36The snowflake can also appear with six arms or a dendritic structure as ice crystals.
06:41And that again depends on the changes in the temperature surrounding each snowflake.
06:47Maybe you heard the saying that no two snowflakes are identical.
06:51A catalog of snowflakes supports this theory.
06:54One chemistry educator detected more than 30 different types of snowflakes.
06:59They are classified as column, plain, rimmed, irregular, and so on.
07:04The reason for all this variety is the path each snowflake makes to fall to the earth.
07:10Each one of them faces a tiny bit of different atmospheric conditions on its way to the ground.
07:16All of them have six sides, that's for sure.
07:19But in 1988, a scientist found two identical snowflakes.
07:23Turns out, they can be identical.
07:25Snow can be seen in deserts too.
07:30I know it sounds super contradictory.
07:32We're accustomed to thinking about smoking hot sand, cactuses, and nothingness from a desert at first glance.
07:39In Death Valley or the Sahara Desert, snow is occasionally seen.
07:44In fact, in January 2022, some parts of the Sahara Desert got covered with a white blanket.
07:51It's not unlikely to happen all the time, but it's not impossible at all.
07:54You see, on some nights, the temperatures in the desert get low.
07:59Snow needs two things to form, cold temperatures and moist air.
08:03Sahara put a tick on both of these conditions.
08:06Bonus fact, how long is the tallest snow figure?
08:10In 2008, Bethel town residents in the U.S. united their forces with the people of surrounding towns to break a world record.
08:19The snow person was 120 feet tall.
08:21It took them more than one month to finish creating the figure.
08:25The Statue of Liberty was only a few inches taller than this figure.
08:30When we see a strong snowstorm, we call it a blizzard.
08:35That's not always so.
08:37You see, a snowstorm should meet some qualifications to be classified as a blizzard.
08:42For instance, the wind should be at least 35 miles per hour.
08:47Plus, the snow must decrease the visibility to a certain mile for three hours at the least.
08:53Otherwise, the snowfall can be named a snow squall or a snow burst.
08:58It's a snowy winter night.
09:06You're inside your cozy house and watching a historical movie that takes place during the Middle Ages.
09:12As you take another sip of your hot chocolate, you can't help but wonder how the people survived the winter back then.
09:18At that exact moment, your TV screen suddenly turns into a portal and pulls you inside!
09:24You open your eyes to find yourself within the world of the movie you were just watching.
09:34A man approaches you and says,
09:37Welcome to my medieval village.
09:39I am Bartholomew, and I called you here to give you an answer to your question.
09:46First of all, let me tell you that conditions became extremely harsh when the cold arrives,
09:52and not just for the northern countries.
09:55Mainland Europe takes its share of the brutal weather too.
09:59So, winter is kind of a slowing down time for all of us.
10:04You see, we usually associate winter with old age and poverty
10:08because of all the changes that occur in nature during this time.
10:13For example, we can't really grow any crops when snow covers all our land.
10:18And by the early 14th century, things started to get even worse
10:24because we started seeing the first signs of what you may know as the Little Ice Age.
10:30Cold temperatures peaked.
10:33Weather anomalies and extreme events such as sudden floods or hailstorms started to occur,
10:39which added to our agony.
10:42Take the winter of 1359, for instance.
10:45Across central Italy, the snow rose to extraordinary heights.
10:50People had to throw the snow into the streets to lighten up their roofs.
10:55And because of that, some towns were completely blocked.
10:59Their inhabitants were trapped in their homes for several days.
11:04Another example of this is the winter of 1389.
11:07The snowfall was so great in the Luzerne region of France
11:12that many people's farmsteads and houses were destroyed.
11:17Bartholomew notices that you start shivering.
11:20Ah, you were not prepared for this journey back to medieval winters, I see.
11:26Let's walk to my home and find you some warmer clothes.
11:30As you can see, I'm already wearing a cloak, a scarf, and mittens,
11:36which are all made out of wool.
11:39I also have boots that are made out of leather from a deer.
11:43Still, all these are not really enough to stay warm when one is outside.
11:48That's why we usually layer other clothes underneath them all to keep the warmth trapped.
11:54By the way, the wool can get heavy and itchy sometimes.
11:58So beneath our woolen outer clothing, we wear linen undergarments too.
12:04The linen acts as a barrier between the wool and the skin,
12:08therefore making things a bit more comfortable for us.
12:11It is also easier to wash linen clothes, and they dry way faster than woolen ones.
12:18The wealthier ones can line their winter clothing with fur.
12:22And us regular peasants sometimes use rabbit and lamb for the same purpose.
12:29It's not as glamorous, but still effective.
12:32We can also hunt some wild animals and birds with the permission of the Lord.
12:37Yet again, the sumptuary laws, in other words, consumption laws,
12:42are very clear on who can wear what according to their social standing.
12:47Take the 1363 English Sumptuary Law, for example.
12:51It states that the wives and daughters of craftspeople and land-owning peasants
12:56were only allowed to wear lamb, rabbit, cat, and fox furs.
13:01You notice a weird-looking hinged metal sphere in Bartholomew's pocket, and ask him what that is.
13:11Ah, it's a hand warmer, he says, as he gives it to you.
13:16If we are going to be outdoors for a long time, we bring one of these with us.
13:21Otherwise, one's fingers can get numb, you know.
13:24Now take a closer look at it, and you'll see that it has tiny holes on its surface.
13:31This helps the heat to escape, so that we can warm our hands without burning them once we fill it with hot coal.
13:38That's kind of heavy, you say, and think about how lucky you are to be living in modern times.
13:46With just one click from the comfort of your home, you can order hot hands instant hand warmers from Amazon.
13:53And no coal is necessary.
13:55You can even put those inside your shoes to warm your toes, since they're pocket-sized, unlike this metal orb.
14:02You and Bartholomew arrive at his house.
14:06You realize that he does not take any of his outer garments off.
14:10We keep everything on during the coldest months, because the indoor heating isn't always great, he says.
14:18As you can see, the fireplace stands here at the center of our homes.
14:23And right above it, there is a ventilation hole, rather than a chimney, which causes us to lose so much of the heat.
14:30Yet again, we don't usually sleep in our outside clothes.
14:35Instead, we put bricks and stones in the fire, wrap them in fabric, and take them to our beds to warm the sheets.
14:43Wearing our nightcaps all night long also helps.
14:47And when we're not sleeping, we usually try to stay close to the fireplace as much as possible.
14:54You sure appreciate that hot water bottle of yours more now, right?
14:58And you didn't even need to cover it with a cloth, like these folks have to do.
15:03It already came with a knit cover for your convenience.
15:06And the best part is, it's much softer than a brick, and can be heated in the microwave within seconds.
15:13How rude of me! I forgot to offer you something to eat, Bartholomew says.
15:19I know I already told you winter means stillness for us, but we still need to put in some work to not starve.
15:27There's a lot of preparation to be done in advance to survive these medieval winters.
15:34First of all, we start gathering wood for the fire from as early as spring and through the summer.
15:40Then there's the food we harvest in the fall.
15:44We have to preserve that in a special way, so all will last over the winter months.
15:49The same thing goes for meat, too.
15:52The methods we use include pickling, drying, and brining.
15:57In terms of grains, cereals, and pulses, we dry them out and store them in ceramic or clay pots.
16:04We later use them for making potted stews and soups, in addition to vegetables.
16:10Basically, everything we can find goes into the pot.
16:14The most common foods we eat in our everyday lives include onions, peas, beans, lentils, and herbs such as parsley.
16:23We still have to include protein in our diet, though.
16:27And we do that by eating cheese, eggs, fatty bacon, or salted pork.
16:32In terms of fresh fruits and berries, they're hard to find during wintertime.
16:38So we preserve the ones we already picked by the air-drying method, too.
16:44You think to yourself, if only these people had a food dryer at home, their lives would be so much easier.
16:51They could use it for all the foods Bartholomew just mentioned, from fruits to meat.
16:56Then again, there's no electricity here.
16:59I wouldn't want you to think winters are so grim, long, and boring, after everything I've told you.
17:08We still do plenty of activities to keep ourselves entertained, Bartholomew says.
17:13But what? It's not like they can binge-watch their favorite TV shows.
17:17We play in the snow a lot, adults and children all together.
17:24You can see plenty of peasants ice skating on the frozen lakes.
17:28To be able to do that, we used to use pieces of polished wood or horse shin bones.
17:34But now, we have iron skates, too.
17:37I need to mention, though, here in Western Europe, ice skating is not as common as in Scandinavia.
17:44That is because they are more accustomed to snow and cold temperatures.
17:48Sledding is another fun activity we do.
17:52Then there are indoor games, such as chess, backgammon, and other dice games.
17:58Wool-spinning and telling stories are also common ways to spend some nice time with our family.
18:03Not surprisingly, nobles have more opportunities in the entertainment area, too.
18:09For example, boar hunting is very common amongst the elite.
18:15At that moment, a portal appears at the door.
18:19Bartholomew says,
18:20Guess it's time for you to head back, traveler.
18:23Fare thee well.
18:25That's it for today.
18:26So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
18:30Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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