<p>Snow fall can occur under several conditions. In this I am assuming conditions typical for mid to high latitudes. Association with cold-warm fronts are probably most common. Snow fall in mountainous areas can be associated with orogenic clouds and precipitation, when air is raised due to topography creating conditions for precipitation. In addition it is possible to have convective precipitation although such conditions are much more common during summer conditions yielding rain (and when severe e.g. hail). </p>

<p>So when snow fall occurs in association with warm fronts, one could expect a warming since warm air replaces the cold when the front s passing. My guess is that it is this that you have experienced. However, since it is also possible to obtain snow fall during the passing of a cold front the opposite may occur. The orographic conditions concern a more steady situation where the air is affected by  a mountain which is stationary so I would not expect large changes in air temperature unless the air moving across the mountains itself changed temperature for one or another reason. Convective snow fall would not likely yield marked changes in temperature as I see it since the snow would be created by vertical movement of warmer air, cooling to form the snow. I would rather expect a slight cooling, similar to what happens under a heavy rain shower in summer.</p>

<p>So in short, the warming you mention is not generally  associated with snow fall <em>per se</em> but likely associated with the passing of a warm front.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T15:20:59.987Z
2017-01-13T15:20:59.987Z
Peter Jansson
<p>Addressing your hypotheses in order, I'll start with (1) cloud cover. Here you can differentiate firstly between day and night time. While during the day, clouds will reduce heating of the ground by means of reflection of incoming solar radiation, during night, the clouds are the main contributor to thermal back radiation towards the surface and absorption of radiated heat by the surface. Thus, clouds rather balance the diurnal temperature curves that induce a warming effect.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7he1J.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7he1J.jpg" alt="The graphic shows the energy balance of the earth. ~341W/m^-2 is the average solar radiation hitting the earth at the top of the atmosphere. Note, that downwelling radiation is not solely made up of water vapor but it is the main contributor"></a></p>

<p>(2) it has been already mentioned in another comment, that precipitation happens due to any sort of uplift, hence cooling of air and condensation to form precipitation as snow or rain. Now, what you describe, warming as a consequence of snowfall, can in my perspective be attributed to the condition of a warm (humid) airmass overpassing a cold (dry) airmass. Due to its lower density, the warm air is, generally speaking, pushed up over the cold air. Due to this cooling effect we experience cloud formation and, with elevated water vapor concentrations of the overpassing air mass, precipitation (e.g. snowfall).</p>

<p>Now, the important phenomenon in this condition is the overpassing of the warm airmass. This induces a general heating of the underlying cold front while continuosly loosing latent heat trapped in its water vapor and passing it off as snowfall or rain, thus heating the underlying atmosphere. The important factor is the contiuned energy input of the overpassing low pressure air mass. This can, if the conditions are right, lead to continued snowfall, which eventually will turn into rain, if the base temperature is close enough to zero.</p>

<p>In opposition, a cold front "wedging" into a warm, low pressure airmass, condensing the water vapor as rain or snow and leaving a cloudless high pressure area in its wake, will become actually colder after the initial snowfall, which will be also of much shorter duration (some hours of snowfall)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/es2Wr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/es2Wr.jpg" alt="Cold front moving in a north westerly direction"></a></p>

<p>I'm not too sure of the connection between precipitation from the uplifted warm air and heat transfer to the cold airmass, though it does seem logical to me. Any thoghts on that topic?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-14T09:48:42.373Z
2017-01-14T09:48:42.373Z
Florian
<p>I don't know if it actually gets warmer. I've never seen evidence for it, so a source for the claim would be nice. But I have heard the belief that it does. 
It often <em>FEELS</em> warmer for two reasons. First because rain and snow are caused when warmer air meets colder air so at least 50% of the time it is actually getting warmer. </p>

<p>And secondly there is sudden drop in humidity caused by precipitation, and cold dry air <em>feels</em> warmer than cold humid air because it transfers heat slower. Although this effect tends to only be be noticeable if the air is above freezing.</p>

<p>Add both of these together and sprinkle in  some confirmation bias and you have the common belief that it always gets warmer, when it doesn't. </p>

<p>Now transforming water vapor (a gas) into a solid releases energy. The same thing happens when it rains. In both cases the effect is minor and <em>would not be felt at ground level</em>. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T00:46:32.150Z
Latent heat release (water vapor transforming into liquid/solid) occurs higher in the atmosphere, so would have nothing to do with ground level temperature rides.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T00:48:34.540Z
@JeopardyTempest I forgot to mention that on top of the effect being minor, I'll add it.
John
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T00:52:26.990Z
Snow is also not requisite on warm air meeting cold air.  You need a source of lift to generate precipitation such as snow.  That indeed can be provided by a surface front, where there'd be warm air involved... but can also be generated by jet streak circulations, positive vorticity advection increasing with height (upper level lows), elevated fronts, isentropic lift, etc.  A cold front is a common cause of snow... and you'd be feeling colder as your existing warm air is replaced.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T01:03:42.783Z
And don't know of any info suggesting moist cold air feels colder than dry cold air. The percentage of air that is water vapor is minuscule, so while water does have a higher heat conductivity/capacity than air, such effects should really be small. On the other hand dry air would tend to more easily evaporate snow, actually cooling you/the air [this process is actually often important in snow scenarios, called wet bulbing]. So I believe if anything dry air would tend to feel colder. However, at the surface, snow/precip generally cause humidity levels to rise as it's adding moisture there.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T01:06:48.640Z
Sorry John, no intentions to see your answer ripped apart, I have no desire to be harsh.  But I believe your reasoning in this instance is poor.  However in the instances the temp does rise, I think you're generally right that it's due to warm air advection, such as a warm front.  Could also be due to downdrafts pulling down warmer air or snow being a warmer temp (nearer freezing) than the air (often due again to warmer air above).  Also may feel warmer sometimes due to calmer winds.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T01:07:31.707Z
there is actually a physics stack exchange about humidity and perceived temprature. http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/97893/does-humidity-make-cold-air-feel-colder
John
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-13T01:09:06.547Z
Just giving some thoughts now, short on time to make a full answer now, but hopefully someone more expert yet can put better togrther, but no hard feelings sir, we can definitely discuss the merits more :-)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-12T23:26:40.800Z
2017-01-13T15:13:02.777Z
2017-01-13T15:13:02.777Z
John
<p>Water vapours become snow at - 4° C. When it falls on earth, it becomes ice at 0°C, thereby making the atmosphere warmer by 4° during that period. Although other factors are also involved</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-25T23:04:34.340Z
There is no set temperature at which water vapor will deposit (rather than condense) or liquid drops will freeze... droplets can stay liquid much colder, roughly down to -40°C, in the absence of a larger surface/ice condensation nuclei to gather around... ([see this page](https://skybrary.aero/articles/supercooled-water-droplets)).  Not sure what you mean by "thereby making the atmosphere warmer by 4°"?  Perhaps you are saying that supercooled water can freeze on impact at temperatures seemingly counterintuitively warmer than the cloud/water, which indeed is quite true (= freezing rain)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-24T06:58:53.427Z
2022-01-24T06:58:53.427Z
L. K. Sharma
<p>Why does the temperature rise when it is snowing? Is it due to:</p>

<ol>
<li>cloud cover</li>
<li>snow requires humid air and warmer air can carry more humidity (so in this case it would be the other way around, i.e. it snows because it is warmer)</li>
<li>something else?</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-12T23:55:18.737Z
Seems like a really big generalization that is not necessarily true.  Perhaps you can give a time/location example to get a good answer.
f.thorpe
<temperature><snow>
Temperature rise when snowing
user1583209
# Temperature rise when snowing

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-12)

Why does the temperature rise when it is snowing? Is it due to:

1. cloud cover
2. snow requires humid air and warmer air can carry more humidity (so in this case it would be the other way around, i.e. it snows because it is warmer)
3. something else?

**Tags:** temperature, snow

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Seems like a really big generalization that is not necessarily true.  Perhaps you can give a time/location example to get a good answer.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-01-13. Score: 9

Snow fall can occur under several conditions. In this I am assuming conditions typical for mid to high latitudes. Association with cold-warm fronts are probably most common. Snow fall in mountainous areas can be associated with orogenic clouds and precipitation, when air is raised due to topography creating conditions for precipitation. In addition it is possible to have convective precipitation although such conditions are much more common during summer conditions yielding rain (and when severe e.g. hail).

So when snow fall occurs in association with warm fronts, one could expect a warming since warm air replaces the cold when the front s passing. My guess is that it is this that you have experienced. However, since it is also possible to obtain snow fall during the passing of a cold front the opposite may occur. The orographic conditions concern a more steady situation where the air is affected by a mountain which is stationary so I would not expect large changes in air temperature unless the air moving across the mountains itself changed temperature for one or another reason. Convective snow fall would not likely yield marked changes in temperature as I see it since the snow would be created by vertical movement of warmer air, cooling to form the snow. I would rather expect a slight cooling, similar to what happens under a heavy rain shower in summer.

So in short, the warming you mention is not generally associated with snow fall *per se* but likely associated with the passing of a warm front.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-01-14. Score: 3

Addressing your hypotheses in order, I'll start with (1) cloud cover. Here you can differentiate firstly between day and night time. While during the day, clouds will reduce heating of the ground by means of reflection of incoming solar radiation, during night, the clouds are the main contributor to thermal back radiation towards the surface and absorption of radiated heat by the surface. Thus, clouds rather balance the diurnal temperature curves that induce a warming effect.

[![The graphic shows the energy balance of the earth. ~341W/m^-2 is the average solar radiation hitting the earth at the top of the atmosphere. Note, that downwelling radiation is not solely made up of water vapor but it is the main contributor](https://i.sstatic.net/7he1J.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/7he1J.jpg)

(2) it has been already mentioned in another comment, that precipitation happens due to any sort of uplift, hence cooling of air and condensation to form precipitation as snow or rain. Now, what you describe, warming as a consequence of snowfall, can in my perspective be attributed to the condition of a warm (humid) airmass overpassing a cold (dry) airmass. Due to its lower density, the warm air is, generally speaking, pushed up over the cold air. Due to this cooling effect we experience cloud formation and, with elevated water vapor concentrations of the overpassing air mass, precipitation (e.g. snowfall).

Now, the important phenomenon in this condition is the overpassing of the warm airmass. This induces a general heating of the underlying cold front while continuosly loosing latent heat trapped in its water vapor and passing it off as snowfall or rain, thus heating the underlying atmosphere. The important factor is the contiuned energy input of the overpassing low pressure air mass. This can, if the conditions are right, lead to continued snowfall, which eventually will turn into rain, if the base temperature is close enough to zero.

In opposition, a cold front "wedging" into a warm, low pressure airmass, condensing the water vapor as rain or snow and leaving a cloudless high pressure area in its wake, will become actually colder after the initial snowfall, which will be also of much shorter duration (some hours of snowfall)

[![Cold front moving in a north westerly direction](https://i.sstatic.net/es2Wr.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/es2Wr.jpg)

I'm not too sure of the connection between precipitation from the uplifted warm air and heat transfer to the cold airmass, though it does seem logical to me. Any thoghts on that topic?


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-01-12. Score: 0

I don't know if it actually gets warmer. I've never seen evidence for it, so a source for the claim would be nice. But I have heard the belief that it does.
It often *FEELS* warmer for two reasons. First because rain and snow are caused when warmer air meets colder air so at least 50% of the time it is actually getting warmer.

And secondly there is sudden drop in humidity caused by precipitation, and cold dry air *feels* warmer than cold humid air because it transfers heat slower. Although this effect tends to only be be noticeable if the air is above freezing.

Add both of these together and sprinkle in some confirmation bias and you have the common belief that it always gets warmer, when it doesn't.

Now transforming water vapor (a gas) into a solid releases energy. The same thing happens when it rains. In both cases the effect is minor and *would not be felt at ground level*.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Latent heat release (water vapor transforming into liquid/solid) occurs higher in the atmosphere, so would have nothing to do with ground level temperature rides.  
> **username_4**: @username_5 I forgot to mention that on top of the effect being minor, I'll add it.  
> **username_5**: Snow is also not requisite on warm air meeting cold air.  You need a source of lift to generate precipitation such as snow.  That indeed can be provided by a surface front, where there'd be warm air involved... but can also be generated by jet streak circulations, positive vorticity advection increasing with height (upper level lows), elevated fronts, isentropic lift, etc.  A cold front is a common cause of snow... and you'd be feeling colder as your existing warm air is replaced.  
> **username_5**: And don't know of any info suggesting moist cold air feels colder than dry cold air. The percentage of air that is water vapor is minuscule, so while water does have a higher heat conductivity/capacity than air, such effects should really be small. On the other hand dry air would tend to more easily evaporate snow, actually cooling you/the air [this process is actually often important in snow scenarios, called wet bulbing]. So I believe if anything dry air would tend to feel colder. However, at the surface, snow/precip generally cause humidity levels to rise as it's adding moisture there.  
> **username_5**: Sorry username_4, no intentions to see your answer ripped apart, I have no desire to be harsh.  But I believe your reasoning in this instance is poor.  However in the instances the temp does rise, I think you're generally right that it's due to warm air advection, such as a warm front.  Could also be due to downdrafts pulling down warmer air or snow being a warmer temp (nearer freezing) than the air (often due again to warmer air above).  Also may feel warmer sometimes due to calmer winds.  
> **username_4**: there is actually a physics stack exchange about humidity and perceived temprature. http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/97893/does-humidity-make-cold-air-feel-colder  
> **username_5**: Just giving some thoughts now, short on time to make a full answer now, but hopefully someone more expert yet can put better togrther, but no hard feelings sir, we can definitely discuss the merits more :-)  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2022-01-24. Score: -1

Water vapours become snow at - 4° C. When it falls on earth, it becomes ice at 0°C, thereby making the atmosphere warmer by 4° during that period. Although other factors are also involved

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: There is no set temperature at which water vapor will deposit (rather than condense) or liquid drops will freeze... droplets can stay liquid much colder, roughly down to -40°C, in the absence of a larger surface/ice condensation nuclei to gather around... ([see this page](https://skybrary.aero/articles/supercooled-water-droplets)).  Not sure what you mean by "thereby making the atmosphere warmer by 4°"?  Perhaps you are saying that supercooled water can freeze on impact at temperatures seemingly counterintuitively warmer than the cloud/water, which indeed is quite true (= freezing rain)  

---

