# Saving snow for the summer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387 "2014-03-10T22:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/1 "2014-03-10T22:13:54Z")
As a wee lad, I tried saving snowballs to break out in the heat of summer hoping to surprise my brother in the back of the head. I never quite ended up with fluffy goodness; I always opened the carefully sealed Tupperware to find dense ice-bombs (not something to hurl at an older brother). Well, it’s been many years and now that spring is nigh (it _is_ nigh, isn’t it?) and I have a four year old who [del]can’t fight back[/del] will be just as excited to save snow for the summer. …and just as disappointed when he finds lumps of ice. Is there anything I can do to help out? I figure that as an [del]grown-up[/del] old person with access to vacuum sealers, blow torches and freezer thermostats and the Internet, I might be able to help him achieve better results. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/2 "2014-03-10T22:19:58Z")
Plan a summer trip to Mt. Hood in Oregon. _Someone_ is bound to be skiing on the slopes even in summer. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/3 "2014-03-10T23:14:42Z")
Just find a hockey arena and wait out back for a Zamboni to dump it’s load. Replace the freezer ice with Zamboni snow. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/4 "2014-03-10T23:22:39Z")
snow looses its fluffy structure with time due to its own weight. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/5 "2014-03-10T23:32:48Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > snow looses its fluffy structure with time due to its own weight. Well, getting the snow to be looser is pretty much the goal here. But I don’t think that’s what you meant. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/6 "2014-03-11T00:59:42Z")
The problem you have is that whilst the water is frozen - ie not liquid, you have not stopped all the interesting processes that the water undergoes. Water sublimates, that is even when frozen, it turns directly into water vapour. (Freeze drying is a process that makes use of this effect, allowing you to dry out something whilst preserving it structure. Hint - if you have a a sodden book, you can dry it out without further damage by putting it into a frost free freezer - it will take many months, but it will dry it.) If you have water in a sealed container in a freezer, it will sublimate, and then later then vapour will precipitate out again. This runs is a continuous steady cycle, the result of which is that the fluffy (large area) snow tends to turn into a mass that has less surface area, and you end up with a lump of icicles. The colder you keep it the better, but even in liquid nitrogen you will only slow the process. High pressure would also help. But a cryogenic pressure vessel isn’t usual domestic equipment, and I don’t know how much it would help, only that it would help to a degree. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-snow-for-the-summer/683387/7 "2014-03-11T01:05:08Z")
Thank you! That was very clearly explained!