Snowflakes are solids. As a solid, this form of precipitation floats to the ground much slower than other forms of precipitation, such as rain. Rain falls faster and has a sound upon impact with the ground or another surface, making it a much louder form of precipitation.
Unlike rain, snowflakes have open space in their six-sided crystalline structure. This open space acts as a sound buffer, helping to reduce noise. Sound travels in waves and needs to vibrate the molecules in the solids, liquids or gasses to be transmitted. Sounds also travel faster in warmer conditions, so air temperature helps to slow down or speed up the waves, changing what is heard. If there are objects in the way, sound can be dampened, reducing what is heard. Snowflakes do just that! As snow begins to melt and change shape, sounds change yet again.
When snow melts, the space in between each crystal is reduced as well as the buffering property, and the silence of a fresh snow goes away. In fact, as snow turns into ice, it can actually make sounds louder because it will reflect sound waves instead of absorbing them.
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