Updated: 11/24/2008 6:58 PM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Rob Koch

KOCH: Not so speedy snowflakes

Rob Koch - Meteorologist READ ALL OF ROB'S  BLOGS EMAIL ROB READ BIO

Here are some interesting facts about the speed at which snowflakes fall from the sky before they reach your car windshield or backyard. 

Rimed Snowflakes - or those that make contact with water vapor from clouds or warmer air fall at the fastest speed.  According to Nolan Doesken, asst. State Climatologist for Colorado these crystals loaded down by extra water weight fall at a speed of 9 mph. 

Dendrite Snowflakes or those with branching six-sided shape.  They look like the one's we used to cut-out in school and hang off our desk or in the classroom.  These are the slow one's, falling at a speed of only 1 to 2 mph.  So if the cloud base is around a 1000 feet that the snow flake is falling from, it would take approximately 11 minutes to fall from the bottom of the cloud to the ground.  

The next time it snows, just think that snowflake your trying to catch in your mouth or sweep off your windshield with your wiper fell at a speed no greater than 9 mph.  No wonder it takes so long for snow to accumulate sometimes. 

Thanks for reading my blog

Rob Koch