answersLogoWhite

0

Snow can fall anywhere the temperature is low enough and it is not extremely dry (as with Manchuria in winter or the Desert Andes). At the equator, where insolation is very high, this can occur only much higher altitudes than in cooler latitudes.


As one ascends a mountain the temperature falls by about 1˚C every 150 metres. At the equator, temperatures average around 27˚C or 80˚F at sea level, so snow instead of rain typically falls above 4,500 to 4,600 metres (18,000 feet) above sea level. Between this latitude and around 3,000 metres or 9,800 feet, there is a pattern of nightly freezes followed by a strong daily thaw all year round due to the combination of thin chilled air and extremely high solar radiation. Even above the snow line, there is some thaw but it is more than balanced by freezing and with the high precipitation snow remains on the ground, as with Mount Kenya, the Rwenzoris and the Tropical Andes.


It must be noted that the snow line at the equator is by no means the highest in the world. Slightly longer days and stable air at the Tropics means that more snow can be melted and less will fall. Even in the humid Himalayas the snow line is around 5,500 to 5,600 metres and in the Desert Andes it is as high as 6,500 metres. As far from the equator as the Uinta Mountains in Utah at 43˚N, the permanent snow line remains as high as at the equator due to low precipitation and long, hot summer days.

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago

What else can I help you with?