Question

You are in Vancouver. It's a Monday evening in early December and you want to ski on Tuesday! Recent storms have had seasonal temperatures and freezing levels, but the upcoming storm looks warmer. Your plan is to ski the new snow inbounds at Whistler, and once it gets tracked out, head into the Whistler backcountry. What do you do?

Answer 1

Snow persists on slopes above freezing temperatures due to the considerable amount of heat needed to change it from solid to liquid; this process takes time and the rate of melting depends on how much the temperature exceeds the freezing point.

Step-by-step explanation:

Snow remains on mountain slopes even when daytime temperatures are higher than the freezing temperature because snow is made from ice crystals and thus is in the solid phase of water.

An enormous amount of heat is necessary to change phases from solid to liquid, which is why it takes time for snow to melt even above 0°C. The rate at which snow melts is dependent on how much the air temperature exceeds the freezing point, as warmer air will lead to faster heat exchange and therefore faster melting.