About Minor Snow  
 
(Source: image.baidu.com)
 

Minor Snow, the twentieth solar term, refers to the time it starts to snow. Entering Minor Snow means that temperatures remain low, the weather is cold and rainfall turn to snowfall. Different from the light snow we mention in daily life, Minor Snow is a solar term, the name of which reflects the precipitation during the term, like Rain Water solar term and Grain Rain solar term. In White Dew, Cold Dew and Frost's Descent solar terms, as a result of temperature drops, the water vapor condenses into drop of water and then frost, while in Minor Snow, as the temperature drops to below zero, the vapor turns to snow. The names of above solar terms tell a bit about the activities of people who lived long ago, and how they arranged their life and farming according to the change of solar terms.

Minor Snow is a solar term which reflects the weather phenomena that occur during the term. Its original meaning is light snow without accumulation on the ground. The ancient book about plants explains that “in Minor Snow, the weather is cold and it is going to snow; while the earth is not frozen enough and the snow is light.”

In northern areas, after Minor Snow, orchardists begin to prune fruit trees and use straw to wrap the limbs in order to protect trees from the cold weather. Vegetable are buried underground for later consumption. The proverb goes “store cabbage in Minor Snow and spinach in Great Snow”. In 10 days before the harvest of cabbage, watering is stopped. After the harvest, which is usually performed in sunny days, the cabbage needs to be aired with its roots up for three or four days until the leaves become soft. The ditch should be as deep as the height of the cabbage. The latter is put in the ditch side by side with the roots down, and covered with cabbage leaves and corn stalks in the cold days.

In Minor Snow, the north parts of the southern areas of China begin to enter winter. In this season, “the lotus flower is gone and there is no rain cover in the lake. The chrysanthemums have withered while there are still some frostbitten twigs”. Because the Qinling and Daba mountains in the north block the cold air, winter in the southern areas of China is relatively warm. There are not usually more than 5 days of snow a year and much less than that in areas on the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River. Before Great Snow, there is few chance to see the snow. In fact, even in the coldest days, it is hard for the southerners to appreciate the idea that snow comes as “myriads of pear trees burst into blossom”, Because in the south the surface temperature remains above the 0℃ and the accumulation of snow is impossible. In the cold northwest plateau, however, it begins to snow in October. In a year, there may be more than 60 days of snow in the northwest. And in some alpine areas, there may be year-round snow.

Source: weather.com.cn

Translated by Zhang Min

Editor: Wen Yi

 
 
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