[earthstory]

Snowy canyon

In 2012, the Grand Canyon was hit by a nice snowfall on December 24, creating a lovely winter landscape. Interestingly, you can make out the actual temperature structure of the canyon just from this photo. Look at the snow levels – the lowest level where I see any snow is on top of the Redwall Limestone.

In other words, during that snowstorm, there was enough of a temperature gradient that the canyon’s upper levels were below the freezing point of water while the lower platforms of the canyon were warm enough to only see rain.

-JBB

Image credit: NPS
https://flic.kr/p/dDVsqS