How to have snow in Texas?

January 14, 2007 9:24 AM

How practical(and I use the term loosely) is it to have snow shipped? I have a dear friend who was praying for snow on her birthday, but although it was looking hopeful, we are, in fact, in Texas. Could a large foam cooler, lined with dry ice, keep the snow not only frozen, but at least snow-ey enough to make snowballs?
posted by pipesplus to science & nature (17 comments total)

Sure, they ship steaks like that, and they stay frozen. Get a foam cooler at least a couple of inches thick, and ship it express. A couple in Colorado was offering snow on eBay last week.
posted by beagle at 9:41 AM on January 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

You might want to make the snowballs and ship them in dry ice. You will get more in the box that way.

Don't seal your package completely or it will explode. Not all shippers take dry ice. Fedex does and here are their guidelines (pdf).
posted by caddis at 10:13 AM on January 14, 2007

Got any indoor (cause you surely don't have outdoor) ice rinks in Texas? The loads of shaved ice that the Zamboni scrapes up when it cleans the ice are very snow-like and can usually be made into something very like snowballs. If they just dump the ice outside, as they do in northern states, you might be able to snarf it up and freeze it before it melts.
posted by GaelFC at 10:54 AM on January 14, 2007

My concern would be the snowiness of the snow upon arrival. I once tried to put a snowball in the freezer to throw at someone in June, but by June it was pretty icy. I guess over the short term, with dry ice, it might stay consistently cold enough to be still snow when it gets to Texas.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:00 AM on January 14, 2007

You can often get something much like snow for free from ice rinks. The material scraped off the surface to keep it flat is often just dumped in piles outside.
posted by sindark at 11:57 AM on January 14, 2007

Or hey... tell her to buy one of these and get to work! A few batches rolled up into the freezer should be just enough for a small snowball fight... ;)
posted by miss lynnster at 12:01 PM on January 14, 2007

Why not get a sno-cone maker? I mean, it's close to the idea, right?
posted by onepapertiger at 12:02 PM on January 14, 2007

I agree that it might come out too icy and hard. In elementary school in Florida I once brought in snow in a cooler for show-and-tell (I had spent my Christmas vacation up north). My classmates were pretty impressed, but surprised at how hard snow was - I had to explain that it wasn't usually like that.
I didn't pack it in dry ice, though. That might make a difference.
posted by naoko at 1:09 PM on January 14, 2007

I once tried to put a snowball in the freezer to throw at someone in June, but by June it was pretty icy. I guess over the short term, with dry ice, it might stay consistently cold enough to be still snow when it gets to Texas.

I think if you make them on a dry cold day and pack everthing up while you are still outside so that the snowballs never get a chance to get warm they might make it for a few days on dry ice. Freezers are pretty moist environments. Maybe some cotton or paper in the box will absorb any excess moisture in the air in the box.
posted by caddis at 1:13 PM on January 14, 2007

Frost-free freezers will turn snowballs to ice, given enough time. I'd go with GaelFC's suggestion.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:20 PM on January 14, 2007

I second (fourth or fifth?) the ice rink suggestion. I know folks who have built a snowman in someone's yard out of Zamboni scrapings they brought over.
posted by litlnemo at 3:08 PM on January 14, 2007

Uh, where are you in Texas? It snows in Amarillo every winter, and often snows in Dallas. It even sort of magically snowed here in Galveston on Christmas, 2004.

Anyhow, I endorse the ice-rink suggestion. We also have artificial snow created for the "Dickens on the Strand" christmas festival in early December. They used to have an artificial snow Alpine Sleigh Ride at Astroworld.

If all else fails, maybe you could rent one of these.
posted by Robert Angelo at 3:27 PM on January 14, 2007

You need this stuff. We just got some in at the gift shop at the science museum where I work and we promptly opened up a packet and tested it out. It's not cold but otherwise the texture and appearance are perfect, and for extra added fun, let me recommend making some with yellow food coloring.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:08 PM on January 14, 2007

I actually did get some much-desired snow in SoCal for my birthday, once. It was made with a shave-ice maker—some blocks were apparently prefrozen and shaved shortly beforehand. Expect maybe a half-dozen or so snowballs.
posted by Upton O'Good at 10:04 PM on January 14, 2007

I'm in northern Indiana, and we haven't seen a bit of snow this winter. We're all getting ripped off this year. Good luck. :)
posted by IndigoRain at 12:36 AM on January 15, 2007

I feel your pain, Indigo. My son is crying over his sled here in central Ohio. Not fair!!

Let us know how it goes, pipesplus.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:26 AM on January 15, 2007

Fifthing/sixthing the ice skating rink idea. My dad lives in Florida, and his neighbor won a batch of snow. I believe it was collected from the local rink. It came to about six inches on the guy's front lawn. (We even have a picture of Dad skiing on it.)
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 8:41 AM on January 15, 2007