Any theories on way so much silence ensues after a big snow?

Question

Just Wanting to hear your thoughts.

Answer 1

Try this, snow flakes and piles of snow absorb sound, the deeper the snow the greater sound reduction. A way to test this, dig into a snow bank and yell at passing cars, watch out for neighborhood dogs that might turn your entry yellow! Oh yeah, Those big snow blowers, might be a problem.

Answer 2

Don't trust my answer because that field of physics is not my best subject,

BUT, although I now live in the Southwest, I spent my first 18 years near Buffalo, NY. and I often noticed it and certainly enjoyed it.

I think it is because after the heavy snowfall, the cold front has come through and the wind dies and doesn't whistle through the trees and traffic is slower.

But a blanket of snow is much like a regular blanket, it covers up hard objects which reflect sound waves and also provides a pretty good acoustic absorber.

Keep thinking up these questions, but if you have just had a big snow get away from your computer, go outside and enjoy the peace and fun which comes with a big snow.

Answer 3

I think it's like the world comes to a standstill. Like a parent watching their child sleep. Something so beautiful shouldn't be disturbed, but pondered. Finally we get over it, drive on the beautiful roads...and eventually wreck the car. Yeah. Go figure.

Answer 4

Al Gore is on a tropical island

Answer 5

Id say a couple reasons:

1) Snow is jagged and porus which probably allows sound to be absorbed better

2) The effects of #1 coupled with snow being on the ground and on trees, rocks and roofs probably helps.

3) A few minutes ago it was windy and snowing so when its gone there is silence...also too cold for some animals?

Answer 6

The snow has a dampening effect on echoes and sound propagation. Basically, it shortens the distance at which noises can be heard.

Answer 7

Two of my own personal opinions:

Snow that falls on trees/surfaces absorbs sound a bit better, sound can't bound back.  Everything always sounds quieter outside when big fluffy flakes fall outside in December here in MN.   In MN, we've had an above average snow fall rate this season and we've been below average for cold.  Winters in my 40 years here in MN are usually cold and snowy, but we have had years of winters that barely got below 10F.   I've done that experiment where you splash a pot of boiling water outside when it's -40f and I can tell you, water does NOT hit the ground, it evaporates almost instantaneously.

While snow is a normal thing for me in northern MN (as well as the cold), it's not for places like the middle east and with the winter storms in China.  Over our summer 2007 it was 'winter' in the southern hemisphere.  My company has an office in Brisbane Australia, it snowed there this year for the first time ever.

It's that kind of thing, when snow shows up in a place that normally doesn't get that kind of weather, that throws a wrench into a theory.  When that happens, people stop, think, and sometimes they say the weird weather is a result of the theory or just mark it up to weather being weather.

For me, I always say:  If a weather man can't predict next weeks weather, what makes you think that we can predict the weather 1 year, 10 years, 100 years from now?  Trending doesn't cut it for me.

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Answer 8

i dont know why but it is my favorite part of winter. i love the cold silence because in it, for some strange reason, there is warmth.