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December 21, 2004      Winter Begins

The phrase "as white as snow" is inaccurate

Believe it or not, snow is actually colorless. Snow appears white because it reflects all wavelengths of light equally. Because snow is composed of many small crystals, it acts as a prism and breaks light into its component wavelengths that together appear white, but individually appear as specific colors. So watch for sheens and rainbow-like reflections on the snow that demonstrate this phenomenon. Also, as light penetrates snow to different depths, certain wavelengths can be better absorbed and the snow will appear tinted, often bluish because it absorbs red and reflects blue light.

Today's photo of the walkway to Fallingwater surrounded by snow-covered rhododendron is by WPC's Jack Rowley.

The Snowfall Is So Silent
By Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo
Spanish Poet (1864 - 1936)

The snowfall is so silent,
so slow,
bit by bit, with delicacy
it settles down on the earth
and covers over the fields.
The silent snow comes down
white and weightless;
snowfall makes no noise,
falls as forgetting falls,
flake after flake.
It covers the fields gently
while frost attacks them
with its sudden flashes of white;
covers everything with its pure
and silent covering;
not one thing on the ground
anywhere escapes it.
And wherever it falls it stays,
content and gay,
for snow does not slip off
as rain does,
but it stays and sinks in.
The flakes are skyflowers,
pale lilies from the clouds,
that wither on earth.
They come down blossoming
but then so quickly
they are gone;
they bloom only on the peak,
above the mountains,
and make the earth feel heavier
when they die inside.
Snow, delicate snow,
that falls with such lightness
on the head,
on the feelings,
come and cover over the sadness
that lies always in my reason.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
American Poet (1874 - 1963)

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

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