When it’s darkish outdoors in Anchorage, Alaska, therapist Karen Cunningham pulls on lengthy johns, one in every of her 16 pairs of snow pants, a hat, gloves, her warmest coat, and snow boots, and lies down in a pile of recent snow. “It’s pitch black, and these white issues are simply floating down so gently,” she says. “It’s hope for me. From the darkness comes all these infinite prospects and creations.”
Snow lovers like Cunningham are vulnerable to wax poetic about how they fall for glowing flakes time and again—even this yr, as a record-setting 100-plus inches have already hit Anchorage. A buzzing anticipation takes maintain of the town on the eve of potential storms, and “everyone prays for a snow day,” she says. “All people’s like, ‘Let’s shut the town down for a bit of bit, and go outdoors and play in it.’”
What precisely makes snow so particular? Psychologists and scientists have theories about why it’s probably the most celebrated kind of precipitation. Its unpredictable nature contributes to the aura of anticipation round it—and so does the nice, old school enjoyable you’ll be able to have in it.
It reminds us of childhood
Trevor Harley’s earliest recollections revolve across the climate. When he was 4, at Christmastime, he awakened at his grandmother’s home to discover a world remodeled. “I don’t suppose I’d ever seen snow earlier than, and it was a very thick, heavy snowfall,” says Harley, emeritus professor of psychology on the College of Dundee in Scotland and creator of the guide The Psychology of Weather. “It was completely superb.”
Freshly fallen snow, he believes, is among the most lovely issues people see of their lifetimes. A part of the attraction is its potential to show dirty streets into one thing magical. “I can’t consider every other occasion or factor in life that has the transformative nature of snow,” Harley says. As a result of it occurs occasionally—a minimum of in most components of the world—it’s a novelty, usually prompting nostalgic recollections: of snow days, childhood enjoyable, and holidays spent craving for a white Christmas. “It makes us pleased,” he says. “Excited about snow once we had been younger, and all the nice instances we had, cheers us up.”
It’s a feast on your senses
Snow engages all 5 senses, factors out Cunningham, the therapist in Alaska. Not solely is it simple on the eyes, but it surely’s unbelievable at reflecting sunlight. That helps brighten the darkish days in Cunningham’s metropolis, the place there are solely six hours of daylight throughout some components of the yr. Past that, “You may really feel it, you’ll be able to style it, there’s a sure odor to it,” she says. “And the sound of silence—the sound of snow simply floating down—is so therapeutic.” Analysis suggests a pair inches of snow can take up up to 60% of sound, which implies the world actually does appear quieter (and extra peaceable) when it’s coated in white.
Learn Extra: Why Skiing Is a Ridiculously Good Workout
It’s fleeting
Kari Leibowitz, a well being psychologist and creator of the forthcoming guide How To Winter: Harnessing Your Mindset To Embrace All Seasons of Life, calls herself a reformed “winter hater.” She spent a yr dwelling in northern Norway—part of the Arctic the place the solar doesn’t rise from the center of November till the top of January—to check how individuals handle to thrive throughout such darkish, chilly months. Now based mostly in Amsterdam, she’s discovered to take pleasure in snow and particularly appreciates its ephemeral nature. “It’s like a rainbow,” she says. “It’s not going to be round ceaselessly.” That forces individuals to grab the current second in a means they in any other case may not.
It breaks us out of our routines
Snow unlocks an array of winter actions that give individuals license to play, notes Leibowitz. “You may ski, you’ll be able to snowshoe, you’ll be able to snowmobile, all of that,” she says—and is there any higher glee than sledding down a beneficiant hill? Snow prompts an nearly childlike sense of free-spirited enjoyable.
It’s unpredictable
As anybody who’s ever been upset by an under-performing forecast is aware of, predicting precisely how a lot snow will fall is hard: Even a slight change in components like atmospheric temperature or wind speeds can knock a winter climate occasion sideways. If a storm monitor shifts 20 or 30 miles, a would-have-been foot of snow can flip right into a dusting, says AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter. “I believe a part of the thrill round it’s that snow might be very localized, with sharp variations even inside a metropolis,” he says. “That makes individuals .”
It’s disappearing
As of late, in lots of components of the world, there’s much less snow within the forecast. Research printed within the journal Local weather in 2023 discovered that international annual snow cowl has dropped by about 5% since 2000. That’s dangerous information for ice fishermen, agriculture staff, winter recreationists, and the planet as a complete. Snow plays an important role in regulating the temperature of Earth’s floor and filling rivers and reservoirs that present consuming water; plus, winter tourism drives native economies around the globe.
“Sadly, it’s the season that can vanish first,” says Kathleen Gasperini, founding father of the non-profit Snow Lovers, which goals to save lots of winter for future generations by constructing consciousness, urging companies to undertake scientific and snow-friendly practices, and advocating for the usage of clear power sources.
Gasperini encourages snow fans who’re anxious about declining snowfall to take motion by contacting their native ski resorts and pushing for environmental measures, from implementing recycling applications to putting in photo voltaic panels. Resorts might additionally provide decreased tickets for younger ski golf equipment—making certain {that a} new era of snow lovers will perceive precisely why snow issues.
“It’s a fragile season, and that’s one of many heartbreaks of local weather change,” she says. “Folks actually, actually love snow, and it could be so unhappy if our children and grandkids by no means get to see it.”
