# Educate a California boy: Why NOT eat snow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826 "2014-02-08T12:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/61 "2014-02-10T18:30:48Z")
Sorry about that – I mistakenly and unknowingly posted before the draft was complete. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/62 "2014-02-10T18:51:03Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Sorry about that – I mistakenly and unknowingly posted before the draft was complete. It’s OK, I agreed with you both times. I think the confusion may be the distinction between survival and recreation. I had full vents open on bibs and shell this weekend when climbing and was certainly generating enough excess heat for melting snow even though it was about 5 degrees out. The trip was fairly short (3 hours total) so I was fine with a 1 liter water bottle and a small thermos of hot cider. I’ve never tried using body heat to melt snow while climbing, but I can see it working as you described. Back to the OP, I’ve eaten snow and melted snow over a stove for drinking scores of times. As long as it’s fairly new and clean snow I don’t see the problem. ---
**Author:** ![wei\_ji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wei\_ji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wei_ji)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/63 "2014-02-11T17:58:28Z")
> [@abel29a](#): > > As others have already stated, nothing wrong about eating fresh snow, if not visible contaminated or old, unless you are in a already very polluted area… > > Eating snow directly, or drinking ice cold water, is a bad idea when not moving, as it will lower your core temp quite suddenly - which is not a good thing if you are trying to stay warm… Yes, that’s a warning I’ve seen repeated in several books on cold weather survival – eating snow chills the blood through the stomach wall, lowering core temperature and promoting hypothermia. That’s something to remember. I grew up in Alaska, so I ate a lot of snow as a kid. I got the shivers a bit but I’m still here. Avoiding snow of any color other than pure white and fresh is a basic kid intelligence test. It might be the GRE for certain inexperienced adults, but I never saw any kid who didn’t pass it – at least of those I hung around with – despite mischievous encouragement and sometimes nasty gaming by friends. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/64 "2014-02-11T18:25:02Z")
Is it safe to eat yellow snow-cones? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/65 "2014-02-11T20:40:25Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > the government’s chemtrails are polluting rainwater Erm, no. No they’re not. Contrails probably are, a little bit, but I don’t think they have anything to do with the government. (Seriously, HTF did this “chemtrail” theory gain such traction? It’s not even a good conspiracy!) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/66 "2014-02-11T22:51:10Z")
But didn’t you know? Those trails are just full of DHMO and hydroxic acid! ---
**Author:** ![Thuringwethil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@Thuringwethil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thuringwethil)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/67 "2014-02-14T16:06:37Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Is it safe to eat yellow snow-cones? No, no, no, they’re lemon! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_2vGYLC87gU/maxresdefault.jpg "Welcome to the HIMALAYAS") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2vGYLC87gU) ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/68 "2014-02-14T17:06:16Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I don’t have a PhD in entropy but how is it different using body heat to melt snow outside your body versus inside your body? Its about the rate of heat loss. You can remove the bag of snow from your body if its causing you to loose heat too quickly. If you consume too much solid snow and start loosing heat quickly, you have less ability to reverse it. In a survival situation, it would be best to build a fire, if possible, to melt snow and provide heat. Using body heat to melt snow should only be a very last resort. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/69 "2014-02-14T17:43:48Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The water that everybody drinks? Fish shit in it. Animals bleed and die in it. Humans swim in it. But you should be concerned about snow? > > People get weird about the stupidest stuff. Perfect response. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/70 "2014-02-18T18:50:16Z")
[Madscientist mode ON] A few salient facts, after reading the thread: 1. Rain will not become snow, but rain often starts as snow crystals formed in the cloud. Frozen rain is sleet or hail depending on the freezing process. 2. Snow crystals initially form around a nucleus of some sort; pollen, dust particles, soot or other solid pollution, etc. Also bacteria. Or Giardia cysts … :eek: 3. High altitude winds are strong enough and fast enough to carry microparticles incredible distances. Global, not regional. So the pristine snow you taste back in the Colorado backcountry might have formed around a particle of (dust?) that lofted off a manure pile in a Chinese pig farm. ☹ [Madscientist mode OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/71 "2014-02-18T19:00:11Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Rain will not become snow, but rain often starts as snow crystals formed in the cloud. Frozen rain is sleet or hail depending on the freezing process. Just to clarify on this, no individual raindrop will become an individual snowflake, but a storm that starts off as a rainstorm can become a snowstorm. Though probably that just means (as you alluded to) that each individual bit of precipitation in the storm started off as snow, and that it stopped melting partway through. And you could end up breathing that Chinese pig manure with or without precipitation. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/72 "2014-02-18T19:27:35Z")
Snowflakes typically need a nucleus to form, some manner of foreign substance like feces, dead bacteria cells or fungal spores. Add to this all the material the snowflake picks up as it gently floats down the air column and you’ve got a petri dish full of all kinds of interesting critters parts, critter by-products and critter sex cells. Sounds okay to me … ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/73 "2014-02-18T22:37:22Z")
Would you prefer to inhale or swallow it the contaminant? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/74 "2014-02-18T23:40:23Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Precious darlings … Do you mean, umm, “snowflakes”? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826/75 "2014-02-19T01:33:41Z")
I never heard of snow cream, but my family would put maple syrup on a nice bowl of snow. That takes me back… As far as I can tell, it didn’t do any serious damage to any of us. Maybe the snow was different 30 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-a-california-boy-why-not-eat-snow/680826.md?page=3)