Gloria Knox. age 10. Portland. Maine. for her question;

Why does snow melt when it rains?

A cloud must be just right to form snow. It must be cold enough freeze: its moisture into frothy crystals of ice and air. If the cloud is any warmer than this. its moisture gathers and falls in raindrops. So a raindrop is always quite a bit warmer than a snowflakes. Also.. the air in which it was made is warmer.

Now as you know a snowflake will not last. long in the palm of your hand. Even if you are very cold. your skin is warm enough to melt ea snow flake. So you can imagine what happens when hundreds of raindrops come tumbling down onto a fresh fall of white snow. It often seems a pity but they melt those snowflakes into water and mud.

What happens is this. The little bit of extra warmth. melts the tiny crystals of ice in the snowflakes. They turn into liquid water. The air that was trapped in the pretty crystal is let free and floats off. It was air and water that made the snowflake white. So when it  melts it loses its whiteness.

Sometimes rain does not melt a new fall of snow. This happens when the ground is very cold. It is cold enough to turn the new rain into ice. The new rain then covers the‑‑snow with a dangerous glassy ice surface.