Let the snow fall --- Where?

[Reeses]

So, in this set of novels I'm working on I made it a country that snows. Not a problem right? Until I drew the world map, cunsulted the world map, and my own estimations of certain things that i've been gathering information about, thus placing the equator about the same as Earth and what not. (I decided to not go to far out of the norm for my own sanity.) However, I've added snow to a country that rises just over the equator and stretches out to around 30 Degrees into the southern hemesphere. It is a primaraly costal country, with water to every direction except the west, where there are mountains. (But its still a rather good amount of land).

So, would it snow anywhere in this country? I've been looking things up online and so far haven't found anything that shows what parts of the world gets snow. But as this is a rather important part of the setting for these novels, I need to figure out if snowis possible.

[JonathanCR]

Well, it's all about how much precipitation it gets and how cold it is. The country you describe could easily get snow if there are parts of it high enough, especially towards the southern end. Think how much snow there is in the Andes, for example, and look at South America (from the equator to the 30th parallel) as a rough analogue to your country. If those mountains are similar to the Andes in size you'll certainly get snow there. If you want snow elsewhere you're probably going to need a high plateau, like the Tibetan Plateau, to lower the temperature. The problem with that, though, is that such areas tend to be dry and not get much precipitation. If you want somewhere that gets lots of snow in flat areas it'll really have to be further away from the equator (or make the whole planet colder than Earth).

[Azélor]

You need a high altitude to get snow. Probably over 3000m at least assuming the temperatures are similar to those on Earth.
You could make the planet colder. If it's snows around the equator, the poles are probably even colder.

When you say snowy, do you mean a consistent snow cover (at least several weeks) or just some snow from time to time?

[Reeses]

Well, when I first wrote the story I based it off of what I know about snow. I live in the midwest, far enough north that we can get a couple of feet at a time and winter can easily last between November and March, sometimes longer. BUT I always intended this country to grow rice and have a rainy season, so the location it makes sense for that... I think.

Anyway, the temperature average is like this:

Mass: 2.3 (of the star)
Distance: 4 (From star)
Bond Albedo: 36.51
Greenhouse Effect: 3

Kelvin: 294
Celsius: 21
Fahrenheit: 70

(I used this calculator: http://www.astro.indiana.edu/ala/PlanetTemp/index.html )

There are about 311.04 days, every 21.6 hours. 7 months, of about 40 days each, with a leap month every so many years.

And when I say snow, I mean any at all, though knowing how long it can last would be helpful, first I need to know if it CAN snow in this location. they aren't in the mountains much, but the mountains HAVE to be high enough to be snowy all the time. its kindof important. One of the main cities is at the edge of the ocean, by a cove, at around 10 degrees from the equator. The other main city is farther south, at around 30. However, the first city is on a cliff. I don't know its height, but high enough that people attempt suicide from the cliff? The second is a true port city and is the main trade port.

[Azélor]

Celsius: 21
Greenhouse Effect: 3

21 degrees Celsius is 6 degrees warmer than Earth right now which was around 15 in 2017.
You need to forget about snow at that latitude. The snowline is likely above 5000m.

Mass: 2.3 (of the star)
Distance: 4 (From star)
Bond Albedo: 36.51
There are about 311.04 days, every 21.6 hours. 7 months, of about 40 days each, with a leap month every so many years.

These numbers aren't good.

The bond albedo can't be higher than 1. That would be a perfect mirror.
36 breaks the laws of physics by reflecting more light than what is received.

I'm not sure about the relation between the mass of the star, distance and temperature because there are many factors to consider but a planet orbiting that far from the star (assuming the 4 means 4 AU) cannot have a year of only 311 days. Jupiter is at 5 Au and takes 11 years. Your planet takes probably around 8 or 9 years to circle around the star once.

BUT I always intended this country to grow rice and have a rainy season

Like Manchuria. It has a rainy season, it's cold in the winter and they grow rice. I don't think it's a dominant crop but there is a variety that grows there. The only difference is that it has a continental climate.
Yours would be much milder because of the nearby oceans.

[Charerg]

I think Japan would be an even better comparison than Manchuria, given that this is supposed to be a country largely surrounded by water (or maybe the Korean peninsula if it's important to have that rainy season). I'm pretty sure rice was not really cultivated in Manchuria during historical times, though that is probably less true today.

@ the OP:
If possible I'd suggest moving the place farther towards either pole, any place below 30 degrees is bound to have a subtropical climate (you might get a little flurry of snow once in a decade or so) unless your planet is basically an ice ball with a severe ice age going on.

[Reeses]

Okay, well I never claimed to know a thing about physics. >_< Unfortunately, I can't find my original data. There was a reason I had 311 days as a year, but its good to know that the newer data doesn't support that. (The nice thing is I can change the data at the moment, which it sounds like I need to). I found a more in-depth calculator, but it is kinda out of my depth so I haven't quite figured out how to use it yet. I need to keep the calendar, as it is actually important to the story, but everything else is negotiable.

This is a little off topic, but do you know what distance a year of 311 days would work at?


Also, I 'll look into Japan. That might work location wise.

[Jean-Abdel]

It's probably 36.1% for the albedo. There's a formula for the distance and duration of the year, you should definitely use Artifexian spread sheet for planets (link on his ytb channel). Tweak the distance until you find the right duration of the year.