Where I am from (UK) people often say “it’s too cold to snow”. How can this be true when it snows in the Artic and on top of mountains?
In: Earth Science
It’s a commonplace saying in the UK, and although it’s vaguely correct it’s not for reasons that would necessarily make sense elsewhere in the world.
The UK has a fairly unique climate, being at a northerly latitude on the western side of a major continent, but at the same time receiving the benefits of the Gulf Stream. This means that the UK is simultaneously far warmer than would be expected for somewhere at that latitude, and subject to significant amounts of rainfall.
The prevailing British weather comes in to the country as fronts from the Atlantic. These typically bring plenty of rainfall but also, due to the Gulf Stream’s effects, are relatively warm.
On rarer occasions the weather changes and weather fronts come in to the UK from the north. These weather fronts are typically far colder but because they haven’t travelled over a large ocean, are much less likely to bring rain.
So the TLDR for the above is that there are two main types of weather affecting Britain: warm and wet, or cold and dry. This means that in winter the coldest days are those associated with northern winds bringing bright, clear skies.
It’s not that it’s literally too cold to snow, it’s just that in the UK when it’s very cold, that’s rarely associated with the sort of clouds that also bring snow.
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