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Comment by cryptoz | Hacker News Reader

Both can be true. Temps don't need to be below freezing for lots of snow to fall.

Yep, snow happens when the temperature at the cloud layer is low enough. Ground temp can be higher and the snow will still make it to the ground. Might melt immediately, or if it's snowing enough it could form an insulating layer that keeps snow on the ground a bit longer.

Honestly, snow and air temperature have a bit of a counterintuitive relationship. It can also be too cold to snow, so a lot of really cold places are actually really dry and get very little precipitation because of that.

And what is worse, if the ground is starting to thaw from below, if you get a foot or two of snow on top, it insulates the ground from the freezing air, and the ground temps will drive upward from below, turn the soil into a muddy mess. The same happens with rivers. A frozen river, with a heavy snowfall, will quickly thaw from below.

Eastern Ukraine is also not where Kyiv is, or where the swamp I wouldn't want to drive a tank across outside of winter [0] is.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinsk_Marshes

Fwiw I've seen a lot of pictures of tanks and other heavy vehicles stranded in muddy fields (presumably wheat or sunflower).

In addition to what you say: A snow cover will act as insulation and prevent ground frost from penetrating deep compared to bare ground (something small winter-active mammal can attest to).

Can confirm, with much grumbling to boot…

I forgot that thank you

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