Fluffy, Icy and Always Changing Snow

by Kevin Strauss

We don’t often give snow much thought. Unless we have to shovel it or the unplowed roads pose a driving hazard, we ignore it the same way we ignore grass or trees, as just part of the “background” in the northwoods. Of course snow has its economic impacts as well. If Ely doesn’t get snow, our winter resort and dogsledding business goes to pot. So unlike some parts of the country, we welcome snow, the more the better, even if we have to shovel it off our driveways.

For animals, the ever-changing aspects of snow are critical to winter survival. When snow first lands, it is often soft and fluffy, and excellent insulator for the grouse and mice and voles that live in burrows under the snow. The Inuit people of northern Canada call this snow “api” (rhymes with “happy”).

This kind of snow is critical for animal survival in winter. By some accounts, if an animal can find a home under 10 inches of fluffy snow, it doesn’t matter how cold the weather gets outside, the temperature under the snow will stay at a nice, toasty 30 degrees F (a big deal when temperatures could reach -40 degrees F).

The reason that snow acts as such a good insulator is that fluffy snow traps air in much the same way that a down jacket or down sleeping bag traps air to insulate us and keep us warm. If the air around a body isn’t moving, then it can’t carry away body heat very quickly and we stay warm longer.

Of course snow doesn’t always stay fluffy. Over time the ice crystals break and deeper levels of snow compact under the weight of the snow above them. Those compacted layers of snow turn into the hard compacted snow and ice that we have to struggle to shovel off our driveways all winter long. But this compressed snow is important as well, small animals can burrow into it to stay safe from the hawks and owls that fly overhead. Predator claws can cut easily through soft snow, but a mouse in a tunnel made of hard snow has a much better chance of getting away. This kind of snow can be important for people as well. The Inuit use this hard snow called “upsik” (UP-sick) for the snow blocks they use to build temporary shelters like igloos. Contrary to some descriptions, these shelters are made from snow, not ice. Ice would be far too difficult to harvest for the construction process. Snow is a better insulator and much easier to cut and carry.
If you were to dig down to the bottom of any snowdrift you would find a layer of ice on the ground. Termed “pukak” (PU-kock) by the Inuit, this icy layer is a place where rodents often build their tunnels.

So the next time you are out shoveling snow, take a look at all the different kinds of snow that we have, and the different ways that people and animals use that snow to survive in the northland.

The Ely Timberjay