Why People Love Snow So Much

When it’s dark outside in Anchorage, Alaska, therapist Karen Cunningham pulls on long johns, one of her 16 pairs of snow pants, a hat, gloves, her warmest coat, and snow boots, and lies down in a pile of fresh snow. “It’s pitch black, and these white things are just floating down so gently,” she says. “It’s hope for me. From the darkness comes all these infinite possibilities and creations.” Snow lovers like Cunningham are prone to wax poetic about how they fall for sparkling flakes again and again—even this year, as a record-setting 100-plus inches have already hit Anchorage. A humming anticipation takes hold of the city on the eve of potential storms, and “everybody prays for a snow day,” she says. “Everybody’s like, ‘Let’s shut the city down for a little bit, and go outside and play in it.’” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] What exactly makes snow so special? Psychologists and scientists have theories about why it’s the most celebrated type of precipitation. Its unpredictable nature contributes to the aura of anticipation around it—and so does the good, old-fashioned fun you can have in it. It reminds us of childhood Trevor Harley’s earliest memories revolve around the weather. When he was 4, at Christmastime, he woke up at his grandmother’s house to find a world transformed. “I don’t think I’d ever seen snow bef...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news