Is this conversion even right? I found it on google with little explanation. One inch of rain seems minuscule to 10 inches of snow but maybe I have a fundamental misunderstanding of how much one inch of rain actually is. Please help.
In: Chemistry
It’s all about water content of that 10” of snow. Fresh snow is pretty close but there are factors I’ll get into later that create some variables.
Your statement talks about height of water or snow. Think in volume but not density. More specifically water content for a volume of snow. One crystal of snow (flake) is more or less equivalent to water density for the same amount of molecules, allow for some expansion when freezing. As one user stated the shape of snow crystals doesn’t allow for tight compaction. Therefore the volume (space it occupies) of 1” of water to 10” of snow is vastly different but the water content of 10” of snow to 1” of water can be similar. With time the snow crystals change shape and snow generally shrinks in volume and therefore 8” or 6” of old snow is closer in water content to your 1” of water. Consider that glacier ice is really, really, really old snow. It’s the closest you may get to 1” of each.
Also consider that there are variances on the water content of snow depending where you are on the continent assuming USA. 10” of snow in Colorado would typically have a lower water content (colder and lower relative humidity) than 10” of snow in Washington state (warmer and more humid) which makes for a more dense 10” of snow. Likely resulting in a higher water content in Washington over Colorado for the same 10”.
On a more micro level each snowfall comes with its own unique environmental conditions (humidity, wind,temperature) and the water content for volume can vary greatly with each individual storm.
Melt down 10”x10”x10”= 1000 cubic inches of different snow and see how much water you get. Don’t boil it as that will cause some loss of volume to evaporation.
Hope that helps. I study snow for avalanche purposes.
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