How does snow disappear?

Answer 1

Usually because the air temperature around it rises above freezing. However, this is not the only way:

• The sun can melt snow, especially when the sun angle is high (when you are farther from the winter solstice, at a lower latitude, or a combination) and the slope and aspect of the land under the snow is conducive to it
• Heat generated from friction can melt snow, and this is best seen on roadways as tires repeatedly track over it. Same with sidewalks.
• Chemicals in the snow, usually salt added by people, lower the melting temperature, allowing snow to melt at temperatures in the 20's Fahrenheit.
• Snow can sublimate, quite readily under some conditions. The best conditions for sublimation are strong, dry winds. The Chinooks of the North American Great Plains do just this quite effectively.)

Answer 2

Snow can disappear through a process called sublimation, where it transitions directly from a solid to a gas without melting first. This can happen when the temperature is too cold for the snow to melt, but sunlight and air movement cause it to slowly evaporate. Snow can also disappear by melting into water when temperatures rise above freezing.