Winter Fun Facts
Will 2 snow flakes ever be the same
Is Christmas and St. Nicholas Day the same thing
No
What is the holiday where people traditional put a tree and decorate it
Christams
What type of snow is best for building snowpeople
Wet snow
What do many WPI students do during the first snowfall/when it snows in general
Sled down unity hill, snowboard down random hill, gather on the football field to build snowmen, and snowball fights (I will accept things not listed)
Is there a difference between sleet and freezing rain
Yes
How many days is Hanukkah celebrated for
Eight-day Jewish festival is known for lighting a special candle holder called a menorah. People also give small gifts and spin a dreidel for a chance to win chocolate coins
Is Thanksgiving celebrated outside of America
Yes
How much ice melts every year (billion tons)
750 billion tons
Where was hot cocoa invented
The ancient ancestor of hot chocolate dates back thousands of years to the Aztec, Olmec, and Mayan cultures of what is today Mexico and Central America
What rate do snowflakes fall at
Snowflakes fall at a rate of 1 to 6 feet per second
What religious holiday observed primarily in Spain, Latin American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Cuba, and some areas within the United States with large populations of people from these areas
Las Posadas
What is Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year, which occurs on or around December 21st and is a holiday in many countries.
it is called Toji in Japan, where it is traditional to take a hot bath with citrus fruit. In China, it is called the Dongzhi Festival, where people eat tang yuan (湯圓, similar to mochi) with their family
Is it safe to eat snow
No, eating snow isn't inherently unsafe, but it can put you at risk of ingesting harmful pollutants and bacteria, as snow falls, it picks up pollution, microplastics, and pesticides
That said, snow becomes cleaner the longer it falls
How tall is the highest snowman in the world
Higher than a 12-story building
How much does an inch of rain equal in snow
When was Kwanzaa first created and observed (1900s)
Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of Black Studies at California State University, was the first to create and observe this holiday in 1966
What is the origin of Boxing Day, celebrated December 26th, is a popular December holiday in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
gifts were given to people experiencing poverty, servants, or others of a lower social class. Some say that is the origin of the name—it was a day in which gifts were placed in boxes for this purpose
About how many locations now get less snow than they did in the early 1970s (% or fraction)
Nearly two-thirds (64%)
When was snowboarding added to winter Olympics
Snowboarding became an official Olympic event in 1998 at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan
What is the biggest single snow fall in Worcester, MA (inches)
The biggest snowfall in a single storm was 34.5 inches during the Blizzard of 2015
what is observed primarily in India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka by those practicing Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism and celebrated for 5 days in November
Diwali, known as the Festival of Lights
What is Krampus Night
People in Germany and Eastern Europe observe Krampusnacht or Krampus Night on December 5th, the night before St. Nicholas Day and it meant to scare bad kids. Recently, the holiday has grown to include adult revelries that involve dressing up as Krampus and parading or running through the streets
How many tons of salt are used on the roads each winter (million tons)
More than 22 million tons of salt are used on U.S. roads each winter
Where was dog sledding invented
The northern regions of modern-day Canada, where it was invented by the Inuit and native people. The oldest archeological evidence of dog sledding dates back to around 1,000 A.D.