Buzz
1. Does it snow in the desert?
Telling your child: While it's not common, snowfall has occurred even in the driest places like the Atacama Desert in Chile. In 2011, it experienced a rare cold spell from the Antarctic, receiving up to 80cm of snow.
Did you know: The Sahara Desert, covering much of North Africa, has experienced temperature shifts over hundreds of thousands of years but seldom sees snow. However, on January 10th, residents of Ain Sefra in Algeria's mountainous region faced a heavy snowstorm. This marked the fourth time in 42 years that Ain Sefra witnessed snowfall, following occurrences in 1979, 2017, and 2018. In 1979, a severe snowstorm paralyzed transportation. In 2017, a snowstorm blanketed the area with meters of snow. In 2018, it received 40cm of snow. Ain Sefra, known as the 'Gateway to the Sahara,' sits at an elevation of about 1,000m surrounded by the Atlas Mountains.
2. Which city experiences the most snowfall in the world?
Telling your child: Aomori City in Japan receives more snow than any other city on Earth. Residents endure layers of snow approximately 80m thick each year. In New Zealand, a creature called the Weta freezes its entire body when temperatures drop in winter. As temperatures rise, it thaws itself to continue its life cycle.
Did you know: Aomori, Toyama, and Sapporo in Japan top the list of the 10 cities with the most snowfall in the world, according to AccuWeather. No city experiences snowfall as deep as 7.8m like Aomori. Snow blankets the city from November to April. Strong, cold winds keep temperatures very low. Aomori recorded its lowest temperature of below -24 degrees in 1931.
3. Are there real snowflakes?
Telling your child: Snowflakes usually range in size from as small as the width of a hair to the size of a coin. But witnesses of the snowstorm in Fort Keogh, Montana, in 1887 claim to have seen snowflakes as large as a frying pan. If true, these would be the largest snowflakes in the world, measuring about 38cm wide.
Did you know: Snowflakes (also called snow crystals) are single ice crystals that have grown large enough and can aggregate with other snowflakes before falling to Earth's atmosphere as snow. Each snowflake begins as a tiny dust particle, and branches of the snowflake form around this nucleus in supercooled cloud droplets before freezing, accumulating, and becoming a crystal. The complex shape of a snowflake arises as it moves through layers of air with different temperatures and humidity levels in the atmosphere. Each individual snowflake is unique in detail but can be categorized into eight major types and at least 80 subtypes. Main structural forms of snowflakes include needle, column, plate, and rime. While snowflakes are made of ice, they appear white to the naked eye. This is due to the diffuse scattering of the entire spectrum of light by the many tiny ice faces within the snowflake.
4. Why is summer hot?
Telling your child: The hot summers and cold winters are due to Earth's axis being tilted with respect to its orbital plane around the Sun. Hot and cold weather primarily result from the amount of heat Earth receives from the Sun. Additionally, Earth gets hot in summer and cold in winter because its axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane around the Sun. Hot and cold weather primarily result from the amount of heat Earth receives from the Sun.
Did you know: While it's true that our distance from the Sun is always changing and fluctuating over time, it's a negligible factor. The Northern Hemisphere isn't closer to the Sun in summer, and the same goes for the Southern Hemisphere. In fact, the direct explanation for the question lies in the planet's tilt, meaning sunlight energy from the Sun shines more directly onto that part of the Earth's surface in summer (and conversely for winter).
5. Is the summer sun yellow?
Telling your child: If you try to squint directly at the Sun every gentle evening, you might think it appears yellow. In reality, the sunlight emitted by the Sun is white (which also causes the phenomenon of rainbows due to light refraction through raindrops).
Did you know: If you try to squint directly at the Sun every gentle evening, you might think it appears yellow. 99% of people asked would say the Sun is yellow, but this is incorrect. The truth is our Sun is white. The light emitted by the Sun contains all the colors visible to the human eye including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and green. In fact, the sunlight emitted by the Sun is white. The atmosphere separating your eyes from the Sun is what makes its light appear yellow. The gases in the atmosphere have influenced the light waves through the 'Rayleigh scattering' effect, which also contributes to the blue sky and the particularly orange glow around sunset.
6. Why do we have spring?
Telling your child: Spring is one of the four seasons widely recognized in temperate and polar regions, following winter and preceding summer. There are various definitions of spring, depending on the climate, culture, and customs of each region. When it's spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it's autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
Did you know: In astronomy, spring begins with the vernal equinox (around March 21st in the Northern Hemisphere and September 23rd in the Southern Hemisphere) and ends with the summer solstice (around June 21st in the Northern Hemisphere and December 21st in the Southern Hemisphere). In meteorology, spring is conveniently counted as the entire months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere, and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere. However, according to tradition, some cultural calendars, like the Irish calendar, for example, count the entire months of February, March, and April. In Vietnam and other countries influenced by Chinese civilization, spring is counted from the beginning of the lunar new year (around February 5th) to the end of the establishment of summer (around May 5th).
7. What is autumn really like?
Telling your child: Every place perceives autumn differently. Among the four seasons, perhaps Hanoi looks most beautiful at the beginning of autumn, and that beauty has been immortalized in a song that anyone recalling Hanoi autumn echoes: “Hanoi autumn - Hanoi autumn. The season of milk flowers fragrant with every breeze. The season of green rice flakes, the sidewalks perfumed with every step.” However, for the South, autumn is quite different.
Did you know: While the Northern Hemisphere experiences autumn from September to November, countries in the Southern Hemisphere go through autumn from March to May. The regions closest to the equator do not have autumn; countries and areas lying on the equator experience less variation in seasons and climates, shifting between wet and dry seasons throughout the year. During autumn, days become shorter. Consequently, trees receive less sunlight, slowing down the process of photosynthesis. Chlorophyll (which gives leaves their green color) begins to fade away, and colors like red, orange, and purple become prominent.
8. Is spring always wet everywhere?
Telling your child: The term 'spring' is widely used across Earth to denote one of the four seasons, even in temperate and tropical regions, although in tropical areas terms like 'rainy season' and 'dry season' are also used instead of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. During spring, Earth's axis tilts increasingly toward the Sun, and daylight hours progressively increase to equal or exceed 12 hours per day, accelerating at higher latitudes. The start of spring in a hemisphere significantly warms up, prompting plants to bud and bloom. However, each place will have its own distinctive climate pattern of spring.
Did you know: Severe weather typically occurs most often in spring when warm air starts spreading from low latitudes while cold air still blows down from polar regions. Heatwaves can occur in spring, even just a very short time after cold weather. Temperatures in May can rise to 30°C (86°F), posing risks of heatstroke due to people's low weather acclimatization. The hurricane season also begins in late spring, on May 15 in the northeastern Pacific and June 1 in the northern Atlantic. Before these dates, hurricanes or even tropical depressions are very rare, with one of the earliest tropical depressions named Ana occurring in mid-April 2003.
