On Monday (November 11), our meteorologists reported the arrival of cold air over Europe, which brought a change in weather to us. Cold weather is also accompanied by the first snowfall, but in our case it was not a classic snowfall, but a well-known phenomenon.
Today, it has cooled down by more than 5 degrees Celsius compared to Monday, and the surroundings of our company, as well as our pond in the U. S. Steel Košice Entrance Area, have dressed in a "white robe".
Why was it snowing in the vicinity of our company?
It was not actual snowfall, but a phenomenon known as "factory snowfall". Industrial snow is a natural, but human-influenced phenomenon. It is the result of a combination of low temperatures, humid air and the emission activity of companies. Such snow can only be formed under very specific weather conditions, such as inverted layers, where warm steam from industrial equipment combines with moisture and cools down in the form of snowflakes.
Snowfall occurs when cooled moist air and water vapor condense on tiny dust particles or other aerosols in the atmosphere, forming snowflakes. In our country, industrial snowfall is caused by a significant amount of water vapour from our cooling towers and cooling systems, which, together with cool, moist air, condenses into tiny dust particles, which are condensation nuclei for the formation of snowflakes.