Today in 1946, fake snow fell for the first time ever in Western Mass. (You’re welcome.)
Some people freaked over the idea of tampering with nature.
Snow in November in Massachusetts is nothing special, but 69 years ago it was — well, at least if we’re talking about the flakes that fell over Mount Greylock. On November 13, 1946, the first-ever artificially-produced snow fluttered out of the clouds above Western Massachusetts, according to Mass Moments.
Unfortunately, those flakes melted before they reached the ground. (It was a good hustle!)
But the day was still monumental for scientist Vincent Schaefer. His way of man-making precipitation involved seeding a cloud with “super-cooled ice crystals’’ via airplane, according to Mass Moments.
“It seemed as though the cloud almost exploded,’’ Schaefer wrote in a notebook, according to The New York Times.
Maybe that made some Massachusetts residents nervous; people protested the idea of “tampering with nature.’’ But by 1952, the first snowmaking machinery was in regular use at resorts in the Catskills.
Now, of course, the idea of making snow is old hat—virtually every American ski resort coats their slopes in artificial snow. Now you know to thank Massachusetts when you enjoy your balmy Novembers and still take weekend runs down the mountains.
Severe local weather through the years:
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