FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2022-019 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (January 28, 2022) – In Issue 2022-019 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, we are talking snow from the Big Sky Country.

BIG FLAKES

We are talking about the solid water type.

H2O is a rather unusual substance in the eyes of chemists.  Because of its structure it is an excellent solvent of polar molecules and is called, somewhat incorrectly, as the universal solvent.  Just think of all the flavored water we get exposed to daily: tea, Coke, soups, your blood – well hopefully that is kept inside – etc.  It is one of the few substances for which the solid state is less dense, so it floats on the liquid state.   There would not be pond hockey without this characteristic – ice would be on the pond’s bottom. 

Owing to its hexagonal crystalline structure, it tends to form six-sided solid water crystals when nucleated around a particle.  These crystals grow below freezing point as they agglomerate together in water vapor rich atmosphere.  We just call it snow.   And why does seemingly each snowflake have its own shape?  Well, that is driven primarily by the randomness of agglomeration and impurities (the uncool stuff in air) gathered along the way.

And that brings us to this day in 1887 when the biggest recorded snowflakes were observed at Fort Keogh. Montana.  Snowflakes fifteen inches in diameter.  Those were pizza size flakes!

Here is Davis’s 1909 map of Montana.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon.