Conspiracy theorists have made headlines once again, this time, claiming that the snow in Texas is fake after an Arctic cold snap caused temperatures to plummet.
The state went through a 30-year-low in temperatures which went down to -18°C (0°F) recently.
It was so freezing that pools, fountains, and even fans froze, but the large amounts of snow were quite surprising to people who aren’t used to seeing snow in the normally warm state of Texas. And that might be the reason it has now been declared fake…
A lot of people have made these claims by sharing videos all over social media in which they try to melt snow with lighters and noting that it does not melt.
Check out the video below video where a woman blames the seemingly unmeltable snow on Bill Gates.
I am obsessed with idiots in Texas thinking the snow is fake and a government plot pic.twitter.com/7F0hsLB3hB
— B.W. Carlin (@BaileyCarlin) February 22, 2021
In a Facebook post, conspiracy theorist Scott L. Biddle blamed the snow on President Joe Biden and ‘Dark Winter statement’, claiming that the snow is being used as ‘warfare’ and is an ‘attack on Texas by altering the jet stream, seeding the clouds, and ultimately causing the storm that blacked out over 4 million people’.
And while some people were surprised by the fact that the snow does not melt, meteorologist for WTVR News Mike Stone said there is a reasonable explanation for it, USA Today reported.
❌ No, the winter storm in Texas did not have "fake snow" manufactured by the government. https://t.co/PhjkC6raRt pic.twitter.com/I7nBhLp8eI
— snopes.com (@snopes) February 22, 2021
It is a process called ‘sublimation’.
Stone said:
“When you heat something like this, it goes from a solid to a gas. It’s called sublimation. This is actually disappearing by going into vapor.”
Dr. Tandy Grubbs at Stetson University explained the videos in a statement to USA Today, saying that the ‘demonstrator did not hold the lighter under the snowball long enough to melt enough of the snow to potentially see water formation (and dripping)’.
I have a cousin sharing that the snow in Texas is fake 🤭 like the government is making it fall from the sky. 🤦🏽♀️🙃 like what?!
— kylielyn (@lovekylielyn) February 16, 2021
Grubbs also talked about the reason the snow turned black:
“The formation of black on the snow when the lighter is held under it is due to the incomplete combustion and formation of soot when the lighter fuel is burning.
Soot would ordinarily not be visible when a lighter is burning in open air, but the snowball in this case is acting like a filter, catching and accumulating the black soot particles, which show up quite visibly on the white snow after a few seconds of exposure.”
