At the initiative of the International Ski Federation (FIS), the World Snow Day is celebrated every penultimate Sunday of January. Another name for the holiday is the International Winter Sports Day. This year's holiday falls on January 19th.
Russia is one of the snowiest and coldest country in the world. The snowiest place in Russia is located in the Krasnaya Polyana region in Sochi, on Mount Achishkho: up to 10 meters of snow falls there in one season.
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“There is such an expression: “Snow in Russia means more than snow" (rus. "снега́ в России — больше, чем снега́"). It makes a lot of sense, because the harvest in our country depends on the amount of snow falling in winter”, says Honorary President of the RGS, outstanding glaciologist and geographer, Academician Vladimir Kotlyakov. "The more snow - the higher the yield. Snow gives the bulk of the moisture needed by the plants. But snow can be dangerous. For example, when railroads began to be built in Russia in the 19th century, snowstorms became one of the serious problems because blizzards destroyed roads. Special snow-protective fences were invented to protect the roads. They were used until the famous geologist and soil scientist Vasily Dokuchaev proposed another method of protection - wood lines. A wall of trees protected the paths and allowed more snow to be left in the fields. "Snowy affairs" always posed very big tasks for the Russian people. But snow is part of our nature and part of our economy. Russia cannot live without it."
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Moreover, 50% of the world's population has never seen snow. Or may be some of them saw it in photographs. At the same time, snowfall can occur in the most unexpected places on the planet. So, in December 2016, snow was recorded in the Sahara desert. For the first time, its sand dunes were wrapped in snow in 1979: snow lasted there for half an hour.
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Interestingly, not a single snowflake has an exact copy. American physicist John Nelson is sure that there are more variants of their geometric shapes than atoms in the observable Universe.
“The shape of snowflakes depends on the specific conditions in the place where they are formed,” says Vladimir Kotlyakov. “Changing, even in a millimeter, creates new conditions, and therefore each snowflake is unique. For example, beautiful six-rayed snowflakes fall In not very frosty, but very humid weather. But as the temperature drops, they become different. I studied snow in Antarctica -there are snowflakes in the form of columns because of the huge frosts".
The Russian Geographical Society, together with the "Rossiysky Uchebnik" Corporation, invites schoolchildren to participate in "snow" contests. In the first competition, young researchers are invited to draw up and go through an ecological route, study the snow cover, and also find traces of animals in the snow. And they are invited to mold the original snowman in the second one.
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