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Except at very high altitudes which only a few regions near the equator reach, it is not cold enough near the equator to snow.

Snowfalls occur only above the line of freezing temperatures, which at the equator is between 4,500 and 4,600 metres or 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 should 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 is still as high as at the equator due to low precipitation and long, hot summer days.

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