eli5 How does ice and snow melt when its below freezing.

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like not melting to water but an ice cube left out side will slowly get smaller even when its super cold out.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Water turning to ice doesn’t stop the process of evaporation, but it does slow it down. Assuming the ice is not placed on a surface that collects and amplifies the sun it will sublimate to gaseous water. Sublimation is when a solid gains enough energy for the atoms to skip the liquid phase and jump straight to gas.

[https://www.kxnet.com/weather/weather-whys/weather-whys-why-snow-melts-or-disappears-in-subfreezing-temperatures/](https://www.kxnet.com/weather/weather-whys/weather-whys-why-snow-melts-or-disappears-in-subfreezing-temperatures/)

This happens best for ice and snow on sunny, dry days when the sun gives the solid water enough energy to go to gaseous water.

The other way snow and ice melts in subfreezing temperatures is the sun heating the ice and the surface it is on (the darker the surface, the warmer it can get) which allows the ice to become liquid and flow even though air temperatures are below freezing.

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