How Cold Is “Too Cold To Snow” In Idaho?
Have you ever heard anyone say, "It's too cold to snow"? Whenever it gets super cold in the Treasure Valley and the weather is dry, I hear people say things like that. I've lived in a lot of places that are colder than Boise, so this is a concept I'm not familiar with. But, to be fair, I decided to find out exactly how cold it needs to be to be too cold to snow.
While I have definitely lived in colder places, I couldn't really think of a time when the temperature was at its coldest, and there was also a significant snowstorm, so maybe this concept of being too cold to snow is real.
Once I started digging into the science behind the concept, the honest answer to the question, "Can it be too cold to snow?" is... Sorta.
When the temperature drops below -10, the air can't hold much moisture, so the likelihood of a big storm at that temperature is very low. We don't typically see temperatures that low in the Treasure Valley, but it can get there. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Boise was -30 on Christmas Day 1924.
There is a temperature at which it would be too cold to snow: Absolute Zero. However, that is a temperature that cannot be achieved on earth.
No, it can't be too cold to snow scientifically, but temperatures below -10 are less likely to produce much snow. So, while the phrase "too cold to snow" isn't exactly accurate, it's also not entirely inaccurate.