Canadians believe they can tell the temperature by the sound of the snow – and there’s science to back this up

Canadians like to claim that they can tell the temperature outside by the sound the snow makes underfoot.

The topic has not been well studied, but researchers from the University of Wisconsin suggest that, at temperatures above -10C, the pressure of a foot causes a thin layer of snow to melt, producing a crunching sound as it compresses. Closer to zero, the sliding of grains becomes a squelch as the snow approaches the condition of slush, but as the temperature approaches -10C the snow becomes progressively crunchier.