And now it's time for who's smarted.
Hey, Chet. Let me get a toasted pumpernickel bagel with lox cream cheese, red onion, and tons of crispy bacon.
Oh, and a large coffee and three blueberry muffins.
You could just say the usual, trusty.
Coming right up. Pfft, hey, smarty pants.
As you may have guessed, I meant Chet's Bagels, the bagel store owned and operated by my pal and breaking news sports and weather reporter, Chet Nickerson.
Yeah, I know it doesn't make a ton of sense, but just go with it.
Anyway, I'm super excited to grab some breakfast and get back to my smarty studio to record more who's smarted.
Although I'm not a hundred percent sure what today's episode should be about.
Oh, it's really coming down out there, Chet.
You might want to let people know.
Whoa, it sure is. This is Chet Nickerson, interrupting trusty narrator's bagel order for a special weather bulletin.
High winds and a sudden cold front are bringing in lots and lots of snow.
We're looking at six inches at least.
I know you like that, trusty.
So get out there and build a snowman or grab a sled and hit the hills or stay inside and enjoy a snow day.
But make sure you shovel first.
Sorry about that, trusty.
Here's your coffee and your bagels coming right up.
Thanks Chet. Oh, wow, look at all that snow coming down.
It might not be a great idea heading home in a blizzard.
There's a lot worse places to be snowed in than Chet's bagels.
Here's your bagel. Should I make it to stay?
Well, on one hand I need to record a new who's smarted.
On the other hand, I do have my portable mic.
I could record in the store.
Sure, but if I recall correctly, you already did a bagel episode.
True, but we haven't done one on snow.
Have you ever stopped to think, what exactly is snow?
What's it made of? And what causes a snowstorm?
Oh, and is every single snowflake really different?
Good questions, trusty.
And lucky for you and the smarty pants, I've got the answers.
Not every bagel store owner happens to be a meteorologist.
Great. It's time to trade your smarty pants for snow pants as we take another whiff of science on Who's smarted?
Who's smart? Is it you?
Is it me? Is it science or history?
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Wow. Chet, what a crisp, clean, beautiful blanket of snow on the ground.
I can't believe just a minute ago all that snow was coming down.
Oh, by the way, who's watching the bagel shop?
Don't worry. I put a be back in 15 minutes sign in the window.
Now let's talk snow.
Did you know snow and bagels have something important in common?
Uh, what do you think smarty pants?
What could bagels and snow have in common?
Oh, I know. If you smear a bagel and cream cheese, it looks like the snowy ground.
Wow. That is so not the right answer.
The right answer is water.
Both snowflakes and bagels are made with water.
Oh, duh. True or false smarty pants.
Snow is basically just frozen water.
The answer is true.
Ish. You see, in order for a snowflake to form, some pretty specific conditions need to be present in the atmosphere.
Essentially, a snowflake begins its life as an ice crystal that's formed in the atmosphere when temperatures are below zero degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and there's moisture or humidity in the atmosphere.
Gotcha. So for snow to happen, the air needs to be cold and moist.
Exactly. It's basically so moist and so cold that ice crystals form before they even have a chance to be liquid.
They're stored in clouds where they accumulate even more water vapor from the atmosphere, and eventually they fall in the form of snow.
Ah, fresh white snow.
Or is it smarty pants, true or false?
Snow is white. I mean, of course it's white, right?
Wrong. Believe it or not, snow is not exactly white.
It just looks white.
But how? Why don't you catch one of the falling snowflakes on your glove and take a good look at it?
You'll see what I mean.
When I'm looking at a single snowflake against my black glove, it looks sort of transparent?
Almost. It's actually translucent.
Ooh, smarty pants. Do you know what that word means, translucent?
When something's translucent, it means you can see through it partially.
And if it's transparent, it means you can see through it fully.
And just to round it out, smarty pants, do you know what word we use to describe something you can't see through at all?
The answer is, opaque.
Yep. But snow isn't transparent or opaque.
It's translucent. Ooh.
But if snow is translucent, how come when it's piled up on the ground, it looks so white?
Smarty pants, any ideas?
The answer has to do with light.
Because of a snowflake shape, it has lots of tiny little surfaces that reflect light.
That light reflection is what makes falling snowflakes and the snow on the ground appear to be white.
Whoa. Whoa, indeed.
Speaking of snowflake shapes, smarty pants, have you heard it said that no two snowflakes are alike?
The question is, can that possibly be true?
I mean, there must be like a bajillion snowflakes on earth.
Plus, new ones are constantly falling from the sky.
Can they all really be different?
This might surprise you, but the answer is yes.
Every single snowflake is unique.
Some may be really similar, but no two are exactly alike.
Ever. That's amazing.
It's almost magical.
Yep, almost. But it's not magic, it's science.
Remember when I said a snowflake starts as an ice crystal from frozen water vapor?
Yeah. Well, that also explains how they get their distinct shapes.
You see, as that ice crystal falls from way up in the sky, more water vapor in the atmosphere attaches itself to that first ice crystal, forming a bigger one.
And then another one attaches itself, and another, and another, and another, giving each snowflake its distinct shape.
So you're saying each snowflake is actually lots of different ice crystals all attached to one another?
And the reason they all have such different patterns and designs is because of the atmospheric conditions they encounter as they're falling.
Meaning? Ah, once again, it all goes back to humidity and temperature.
Studies done on snowflakes show when there's more humidity or moisture in the air and warmer temperatures, snowflakes tend to have a more intricate design.
Drier, colder air produces simpler shapes.
Ah, so if you like complicated snowflakes, the warmer and wetter the better.
Exactly. But the most important thing to know about snow when it comes to temperature and moisture is this.
Hey, did you just peg me with a snowball?
Yes, when the temperature is above zero degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit, there's more melted water in the snow allowing for better snowballs.
Colder temperatures means less water and crumbly, bad snowballs.
Good to know. Also.
Ooh, sneak attack. Nice throw, trusty.
Thanks. Speaking of sneaking, how do snowstorms suddenly appear?
One minute the weather is clear and the next there's a blizzard which can be a pain in the neck for adults and a fun snow day off from school for kids.
Ha, in the weather business, a snow day means more work.
Anyway, to answer your question, I can't predict when the next snow day will be but I can tell you what causes a snow storm.
And trust me, trusty, it's not a random occurrence.
For a snow storm or blizzard to happen, we need three things.
Hmm, smarty pants. Any ideas what those three things can be?
Well, we mentioned two of them earlier.
There's cold temperatures and moisture.
Right, that's two of them.
The third ingredient in our blizzard recipe is something called rise or lift.
Hmm, that I did not know.
Allow me to explain.
For a blizzard to happen, first there's gotta be cold air up in the clouds as well as down on the ground.
Next, the moisture in the air forms precipitation and then we have our lift which usually comes in the form of warm air lifting up to meet the cold air.
And boom, it's blizzard time, baby.
So, cold. Plus wet.
Plus warm lift. Equals storm.
Bingo! Say, I should probably get back to the bagel shop and see if I have any hungry customers.
Good idea. Plus, it's starting to snow again.
Or is it sleet? Or is it hail?
Are all of these things just different kinds of snow?
The answer is coming up right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.
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Now back to Who Smarted.
Ah, back inside the warm store.
Unfortunately, my dozen bagels seem to freeze in my pocket.
Ah, here, have a fresh warm one.
Thanks. So what's the deal with sleet and freezing rain and hail?
Are they related to snow?
And what causes them to happen?
Well, trusty, if you'll hand me one of your frozen bagels, I can demonstrate.
Oh, uh, here? Good thing I pre -sliced them.
I'll need two halves to explain.
You see, sleet and freezing rain both occur when there's two layers of cold air and one layer of warm air.
Just imagine that the two halves of this bagel are each layers of cold air.
Okey -dokey. And right in between where the butter, cream cheese, or lock spread goes is warm air.
Okay, sleet and freezing rain both actually start as snow up here in the top of the bagel, our first cold air layer.
Then they move down through the warm middle layer to the bottom bagel or the second cold layer.
Okay, now if the warm air layer in the middle is very thin, the falling snow will melt only partially before refreezing in the bottom cold layer.
And as a result, sleet pellets will form.
But if that middle layer of warm air is thick, then the snow passing through will totally melt into rain.
And when it gets to the bottom layer, it'll refreeze into freezing rain.
Makes sense. But what about hail?
I've seen some chunks that were the size of golf balls.
Far! Those could really hurt if they hit ya.
Oh yeah, those are no joke.
Say, smarty pants, true or false?
Unlike sleet or freezing rain which happen in winter, hail can occur any time of year, even in summer.
All hail the summer.
But could it hail in summer?
What do you think, smarty pants?
If you said true, you're right.
In fact, hail almost never happens in winter and is more common in spring, fall, and sometimes even summer.
Whoa. That's because there's no cold and warm air bagel sandwich to worry about.
Instead, it has everything to do with thunderstorms.
Really? How so? First, snow forms at the very top of a thunderstorm where the air is below freezing and...
Wait, hold on. You just said hail doesn't happen in winter.
How could there be snow forming in the spring or summer?
Any ideas, smarty pants?
The truth is, technically there's snow all year round if you go high enough up into the atmosphere.
Ooh. As I was saying, snow forms at the top of a thunderstorm and then that frozen snow becomes hailstones inside of clouds as ice crystals get attached.
When those hailstones get too heavy for the clouds, gravity delivers them down to us.
Watch out. Ow, right in the meat cake.
Well, Chet, thanks for the bagels and the lesson about snow.
My pleasure, trusty.
Now get home safe. Yikes.
There's another blizzard out there.
Guess I'm staying here out of the snow.
Seriously, Chet? Another snowball?
Sorry, trusty. Couldn't resist.
Here, have another the usual to make up for it.
A huge shout out to Danica, Nora, and Miriam in Ontario, Canada.
Thanks so much for smarting with us and for letting us know how Who Smarted has literally changed your lives.
Besides listening to episodes every night and getting really excited on new episode days, you even celebrated our 400th episode by having a foods featured on Who Smarted party.
Wow. Best of all, your family is excited about learning, which makes everyone here at Team Who Smarted so happy.
This episode, Snow, was written by flaky Phil Jarby and voiced by Adam, don't eat the yellow snow, Davis, Max, Ice Crystal Kamaski, and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound designed by Josh, how cold is it, huh?
Who Smarted is mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian, snow angel Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an atomic entertainment production.
Who Smarted. Star -glow.
