Myth busting: Can it ever be too cold to snow?

Why cold air rarely brings heavy snow

Cold air is dry air. When temperatures drop well below freezing, the atmosphere loses its ability to hold water vapor. This is eloquently explained by the saturation mixture ratio – the maximum water vapor that the air can hold. Here’s what it looks like:

• 0°C – 4.85 g/kg

• -10°C – 2.18 g/kg

• -20°C – 0.91 g/kg

• -30°C – 0.38 g/kg

• -40°C – 0.16 g/kg

• -50°C – 0.07 g/kg

As you can see, the colder the temperature, the drier the air becomes. It effectively highlights why the most extreme snowfalls tend to occur near 0°C, when the air is cold enough to snow heavily but still warm enough to hold substantial moisture.

SEE ALSO: Why this winter’s snow could weigh more than a trillion tons

When to expect the heaviest snowfall

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a snow lover. So when can you expect the most snow? The “gold nuggets zone” for heavy snow is just below the frost mark. Here, the air is warm enough to hold a lot of moisture, but still cold enough to produce snow.

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It snows in the coldest places on Earth

Let’s test this in the most extreme environments on Earth, like Antarctica, where snow becomes extraordinarily rare—not because it’s “too cold to snow,” but because the air is dry.

take Dry Valleysfor example. These regions are basically snow deserts, where snow is almost non-existent despite the temperatures being cold enough to allow it. The lack of humidity makes snow in this region almost impossible.

Never say never

So, can it ever be too cold to snow? In short, no. While the chances of snow steadily decrease as temperatures drop, there is no magic threshold where it becomes impossible to snow.