<p>Snow has a very high albedo. Actually, it reflects all wavelengths of the visible spectrum, whilst absorbing no particular wavelength. Hence the eye averages out the multiple reflected wavelengths as 'white' - as is the case with most fine granular solids.   </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-16T07:38:43.660Z
2016-04-16T07:38:43.660Z
Gordon Stanger
<p>Normal ice (as in refrigerated ice cubes) mostly has uniform crystalline structure - water molecules are in a perfect hexagonal grid, which enables it to be transparent.</p>

<p>Not all ice is like that - for example, if you freeze water that contains tiny water bubbles due to a faucet aerator, the resulting ice would likely look white because the tiny air bubbles get frozen too, their edges forming multitudes of tiny prisms that produce all colours of the rainbow, averaged as white or bluish white.</p>

<p>Snowflakes are made of very fine structures of ice, thus also forming such prisms, also looking white as the result. Because their structure ranges widely, some snowflakes are more transparent than others, but almost all look white regardless. Snow is in fact semi-transparent too, easily evidenced when a thin layer of it covers a coloured surface, and also by shining some light through it.</p>

<p>Under a good microscope, a small portion of a snowflake may look like a transparent ice structure, sporting rainbow colours on the edges. However as you zoom out, finer parts blur and start to look more white. Some snowflakes have more finer details and impurities that can be captured with average optical microscopes so they appear white even magnified.</p>

<p>'White' colour itself is just how we describe achromatic (non-tinted) light. Further, human eyes adjust to lighting colour to treat it as white. If you project tinted light onto snow, it would of course look tinted. However, it may look less tinted than paper in similar conditions because snow tends to reflect light coming from every angle better.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-17T00:12:05.250Z
2016-04-17T00:12:05.250Z
Jack White
<p>Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. Why is it not another colour?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-16T18:07:55.347Z
Sometimes it can be.  There's "watermelon snow" which is pink due to algae.  And in the right conditions, you can get crystals that produce prismatic reflections.
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-02T19:13:21.310Z
Why are the seven dwarves?
Ryan Mortensen
<atmosphere><snow>
Why snow is white?
Sri Ram
# Why snow is white?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-16)

Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that falls from clouds. Why is it not another colour?

**Tags:** atmosphere, snow

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Sometimes it can be.  There's "watermelon snow" which is pink due to algae.  And in the right conditions, you can get crystals that produce prismatic reflections.  
> **username_2**: Why are the seven dwarves?  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-04-17. Score: 16 | Accepted answer

Normal ice (as in refrigerated ice cubes) mostly has uniform crystalline structure - water molecules are in a perfect hexagonal grid, which enables it to be transparent.

Not all ice is like that - for example, if you freeze water that contains tiny water bubbles due to a faucet aerator, the resulting ice would likely look username_4 because the tiny air bubbles get frozen too, their edges forming multitudes of tiny prisms that produce all colours of the rainbow, averaged as username_4 or bluish username_4.

Snowflakes are made of very fine structures of ice, thus also forming such prisms, also looking username_4 as the result. Because their structure ranges widely, some snowflakes are more transparent than others, but almost all look username_4 regardless. Snow is in fact semi-transparent too, easily evidenced when a thin layer of it covers a coloured surface, and also by shining some light through it.

Under a good microscope, a small portion of a snowflake may look like a transparent ice structure, sporting rainbow colours on the edges. However as you zoom out, finer parts blur and start to look more username_4. Some snowflakes have more finer details and impurities that can be captured with average optical microscopes so they appear username_4 even magnified.

'username_4' colour itself is just how we describe achromatic (non-tinted) light. Further, human eyes adjust to lighting colour to treat it as username_4. If you project tinted light onto snow, it would of course look tinted. However, it may look less tinted than paper in similar conditions because snow tends to reflect light coming from every angle better.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-04-16. Score: 15

Snow has a very high albedo. Actually, it reflects all wavelengths of the visible spectrum, whilst absorbing no particular wavelength. Hence the eye averages out the multiple reflected wavelengths as 'username_4' - as is the case with most fine granular solids.


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