Completely off-topic help needed :)

On 14 Nov 2006 08:35:16 -0800, "Robert M. Gary" wrote in
.com:

wrote:
One of my 8 year old son's class assignment questions reads, "How can
you look at the clouds and know if it is about to snow?". Never having
seen snow, I hadn't the foggiest idea. Asked a few friends and none
knows either! A quick search on the internet but came up blank,
probably because I haven't given the keywords that might elicit the
correct answer. Wonder who here (Dubai, UAE) came up with such an
irrelevant question!

Any Canadians here who can help? Or anyone near Chicago (snows there,
right?)?

I'm from California but wouldn't the cloud be full of snow if its
getting ready to snow? Can you see the snow in the cloud?

I'm from Buffalo, and I have seen a fair amount of
snow both here and in Syracuse (which receives about
four or five more feet of snow than Buffalo does,
on average).

I can't see the snow in the cloud myself before it
falls. I haven't heard of any reliable method of
predicting which cloud will drop snow and which
won't.

I have recognized rainfall at a distance of a
couple of miles under the right conditions (across
a lake or in an open field in flat terrain). I've
never seen snow falling at that distance, though
perhaps that's because I don't spend enough time
outdoors in the winter.

Marty
--
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wrote:
Tauno Voipio wrote:

When the temperature is at zero C, there is a snowfall with the snow crystals
wet with water, so the material coming nearly horizontally and chilling your face is
both snow and rain (slush?). Of course, there is an own word in the local language for it,



Wonder if it's sleet you're talking of? I haven't seen that either

Ramapriya


Right, that's the word.

Welcome to have a look at it!

It's a real salesman who can sell tourist trips to
the gloom & sleet we have now.

It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:39:38 -0800, joe wrote:

You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on

Sure you can. If you get a snowflake in your eye when looking at the
clouds, it's snowing.

Laugh

- Andrew

It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.

Wow... I had never thought of that before - an entire country of pilots
who are not night current as of July 31 every year. (at least by
the FAA rules)

--
Guy

wrote in message
ups.com...

Think I'll give him Neil's answer because it looks nice and logical
too. I remember similar Qs at school regarding impending heavy rainfall
and answering, "Dark, low clouds".


That's a good condition for snow, if the temperature is very close to
freezing. It won't help for class purposes, but locals will tell you that
you can smell it.

And what do u mean you can't tell whether what's falling is rain or snow?

I would take this to mean, if there's warmer air beneath the snow cloud such
that the snow melts as it falls, the product is rain. Unless there is
unmelted snow in the rainfall, you can't tell whether the cloud is dropping
rain or snow which is melting into rain.

As far as strictly looking at a cloud without using other senses, I'd like
to hear the answer.

-c

"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 07:39:38 -0800, joe wrote:

You Can't tell by looking at the clouds......come on

Sure you can. If you get a snowflake in your eye when looking at the
clouds, it's snowing.

If all the kids are looking upward with their tongues sticking out, it's
snowing.

-c

Tauno Voipio wrote in
:

It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.

You must get a lot of Stop & Go's on the first week of September!

I have recognized rainfall at a distance of a
couple of miles under the right conditions (across
a lake or in an open field in flat terrain). I've
never seen snow falling at that distance, though
perhaps that's because I don't spend enough time
outdoors in the winter.

Flying in the winter in the Midwest I've seen snow squalls from quite a
ways off. They're quite similar to summertime thunderstorms, in that
they are isolated enough so that you can easily fly around them.

But I don't think you can tell a snow cloud by looking at it. Although
winter clouds DO look different than summer clouds, not all of them
produce snow.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Guy Elden Jr wrote:
It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.


Wow... I had never thought of that before - an entire country of pilots
who are not night current as of July 31 every year. (at least by
the FAA rules)

--
Guy


Obviously, there are pilots in the authorities, as well.
It's not so difficult - you do not need the currency. Maybe
we had something to explain to the FAA if they were here.

The same phenomenon applies to all the Nordic countries
(or at least Iceland, Norway and Sweden).

There is the balance, of course. In the far North of the
country, the Sun stays below the horizon for months in
the middle of the winter.

For reference, currently we have daylight roughly from 8 am
till 4 pm.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

Judah wrote:
Tauno Voipio wrote in
:


It's a different thing in the summer - it does not
get dark at all (even in the middle of night). The
local authorities do not accept a night flight as
night time for the time between first of May and
last of August.


You must get a lot of Stop & Go's on the first week of September!

Right. It's particularly fascinating with a Turbo Arrow
in the middle of Cessna 150's.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi