Image Credit:  marcruiz - CCO Public Domain Image via Pixabay

We only get a little snow here in the south.  We might accumulate a few inches every few years or so.  Once in a while, we have a measurable amount to build a snowman.  Snow days were RARE, so when we got one, it was AWESOME!  I remember getting up early for school and watching flurries fall.  This was way back before the electronic age.  We had no email, computer, cell phone, or social media - nothing but a television news crew to let us know what counties, if any, would be out of school for the day.  We would watch that never-ending scroll at the bottom of the screen that listed the county school systems and the private schools that had called off school for the day.  They listed the school systems in alphabetical order.  We would watch the counties scroll by time after time after time.  A new county or private school would be added with each scroll.  I couldn't wait for the crawl to scroll by again, praying that our county would be added to the next round.  Finally!  There it was.  We hooped and hollered - so excited to get a snow day.  Every time it snowed, which wasn't that often, my mother would make snow ice cream.  We loved it.  My brother and I would gather up a big stash of fluffy white snow (if it wasn't iced over) and bring it inside for my mother to make snow ice cream.  We never thought about what might be in that snow.  It was clean, right?  It was nice white, fluffy, clean snow.  Well, back then, we were kids, so we didn't really care.  Well, a few inches of snow fell over our area this past weekend.  Someone on social media had completed an experiment that resulted in her telling us, "Don't eat snow ice cream!"

The Berenstain Bears Snowbears

The Berenstain Bears Snowbears is available here.

My children are all grown up now, but I made snow ice cream for them a few times when they were younger.  Here, we are in the middle of another rare snowstorm.  As I looked outside to gaze at the beautiful new fallen white stuff that covered our porches, deck, and the hills and mountains beyond our home, I wondered what might be in the snow.  What had I eaten as a child?  What had I fed my kids when they were children?  Discussing this issue with my adult daughters, we decided that since the experiment the  TV lady had done was completed in the city of Atlanta, that must be the reason for the dirty snow.  Surely, out here in the county where the air is cleaner, enjoying snow ice cream is safe.  But we still wondered, so we decided to complete our own experiment. 

Parents and teachers, do this experiment with your kids. Show them that pollutants get into our air. As the snow falls, the pollutants in the air come down with it. We might not see them when they are mixed in with the snow, but we can see them after the snow melts.

If your kids like doing science experiments, consider getting them a science experiment kit.

Science Experiment Kit for Kids

I headed for the cabinet to grab a clear glass mug. Then, I stepped outside to gather a handful of clean snow. This snow was gathered just outside my deck door, where no person or animal had yet touched, disturbed, or tainted it. It was white and fluffy. It appeared as clean as could be. As soon as I packed it into the mug and brought it inside, I noticed a few black spots. Do you see the spots?

Clean White Snow Inside A Clear Glass Mug

Now, we waited.  We waited for the snow to melt so we could see anything left inside the mug except for clear water from the melted snow.

A while late, the snow had melted.  At first glance, I thought, "Oh, see?  The water is clear, so our nice clean air up here away from the city isn't so bad."  

Then, I looked more closely from the top of the mug.  Eeeeewwwwwww

Dirty Yuck Left Behind After the Snow Melted

Don't Eat Snow Ice Cream

Yuck! All those black spots—dirt or whatever—were mixed into the snow. That is what we would have eaten if I had made snow ice cream from it. Actually, we would have eaten a bigger helping of yuck because I would have needed a lot more snow for a good batch of snow ice cream.  

Y'all . . . don't eat snow ice cream!

I'm glad I enjoyed snow ice cream in the past.  It helped create some great memories, but I will never make it or eat it again.  

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