Every winter, light, fluffy flakes make a habit of dancing down to earth from their home in the clouds to coat the West Virginia landscape in a beautiful white blanket. But, while you might have noticed the effect, there’s a unique super power of a snow that you might not have thought much about until now: that fresh blanket of snow on the ground not only re-clothes the world, but it also quiets it.

Have you ever been out walking after a fresh snow and been struck by how quiet the world seems?
U.S. Department of Agriculture/Flickr
Granted, part of that may be due to less traffic until a snow plow comes through.
Wil Kirstin/Flickr
And birds tend to hunker down during a snowstorm, so you're not likely to hear them out singing too quickly after.
Monongahela National Forest/Flickr
But these are not the only factors at work making the whole world a quieter place after a snowfall.
popofatticus/Flickr
Snow, as you probably know, is made up of tiny crystal flakes... ice crystals of many different shapes and designs.
Thomas/Flickr

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As these six-sided crystals fall to the ground, they leave plenty of airspace between them.
Anne Meadows/Flickr
Of course they do - that's why snow is so fun to pack into snowmen and snow balls, and why footprints show so clearly in snow, and why you have to take a sled down the hill a few times to pack the run before it really gets fast. You're squeezing out the air space.
Sonja/Flickr
But all that air between the flakes of a light, fluffy, freshly fallen snow does give snow one of its most fascinatingly unique characteristics: excellent sound absorption.
Michelle Grewe/Flickr
Since sound travels as a wave, the airspace in freshly fallen snow can trap that wave, dampening and muffling it to reduce sounds.
popofatticus/Flickr
In fact, a big snow can reduce noise up to 60%!
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
It takes a few inches of snow to work, though, and the sound dampening effect works best when the snow is fresh, since any melting changes the shape of the flakes and makes them more compact.
Roger Puta via Marty Bernard/Flickr

Did you know about snow’s unique super power? You can read more about it here.

Snow silence isn’t the only amazing phenomenon that only happens in winter in West Virginia…there’s also ice flowers.

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