[Brian]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Sort of. It can be colder than 32 degrees F though. Don't forget about the energy required to change phase in addition to the energy required to change the temperature of the snow. That's part of why snow is so slow to melt. Additionally, the air temp (or water temp in the case of your river) is not much warmer than that of the temp of the snow at the surface of the snow, making convective transfer very small.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_transition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%...law_of_cooling

That makes some sense. So if it was 70 degrees continuously it would eventually transfer to the ice and snow and force it to melt.. It's just annoying how it takes so long.