You’ve probably seen images and videos of the snow that shut down Texas this month. It turns out; there are some people living there who just don’t buy it. People are burning snow in an attempt to prove that it’s fake and just a conspiracy plot by the government.
Conspiracy Theorists Burning Snow in Texas to Prove that It’s Fake
A young woman in Texas posted a video of herself attempting to melt snow from her backyard with a hairdryer. When it wasn’t melting much after 10 seconds, she then decided to burn it with a candle. The flame left black marks in the snowball, but no water dripping anywhere. This led her and many others to believe that the snow is fake and just another government plot. (1)
This video spurred several others to try burning snow to prove that it was fake.
What is Sublimation?
In each video, people are pointing out again that the snow is burning, not melting. They say that snow melts when you expose it to heat, not burn, and therefore it must be fake. What they have clearly forgotten from their high school science classes is sublimation. (2)
Sublimation is when water moves from a solid (snow) straight to a gas (water vapor), skipping the middle stage, which is, of course, water. There are no drips because the water is evaporating too quickly. (2)
The burn marks are just particulates that the candle or lighter being used to burn the snow leaves behind. (2)
#GovernmentSnow
The hashtag government snow (#governmentsnow) had one million views on TikTok on Monday. One video even claimed that Bill Gates was behind the snow, likely due to his involvement with Climate Change organizations. (2)
“Thank you, Bill Gates, for trying to f—ing trick us that this is real snow,” the woman in the video spewed. “You’ll see it’s not melting, and it’s going to burn.” (3)
The video has since been taken down. (3)
Other people have been claiming that if Donald Trump were still the president, it would already be spring. (2)
Science communicator Abby Richards says that these videos and theories exist for a combination of reasons. (3)
“This conspiracy theory is a combination of climate change denialism, general lack of understanding of science, and a belief an essentially omnipotent group with the ability to control the weather,” she explains. “Here we have extreme weather, which is worsened by climate change, being blamed on a small group of people with unfathomable power to control the weather. They recognise the effects of climate change but would rather blame an imaginary evil group than accept that the cause is actually our way of life,” (3)
“Fake” Burning Snow: The Bottom Line
The snow in Texas is real, and the extreme weather is caused by climate change. No, you can’t actually “burn” snow; you are just skipping a step in the middle and turning it into water vapor.
It’s true what they say: Listen to your teachers and don’t believe everything you see on the internet.