By the time March is around the corner, most Marylanders are fed up with the random snow days and are ready for the weather to finally break! This week, we got hit with a snowstorm that covered the Midwest and East Coast. While some people in Maryland grazed just one inch of snowfall yesterday, others got up to 8.6 inches. This may seem quite unusual to someone who isn’t local, considering the fact that we just experienced some of the warmest weather of the year within the same week. So, why exactly are we getting snowfall?
We forget to recognize the beauty of Mother Earth and the fact that the Earth is a physical body, performing many operations that the human body naturally does. If you are in Maryland, you may have witnessed a slight uptick in cold and flu within the last weeks. Well, while taking the Cosmos Filternomics class, I made note of something that still amazes me when I see snowfall. I learned that after it snows, we are able to breathe in some of the CLEANEST air that the Earth naturally provides throughout the year.
When we are young, they teach us about photosynthesis, and how the trees produce breathing air from changing carbon dioxide into oxygen. If you are familiar with a carbon air filter in an HVAC system, it’s pretty comparable to that. It is all a cycle. Now snow on the other hand, with its naturally complex and intricate structure, becomes billions of small air filters for the outdoors. Snowflakes trap air pollutants, bringing them out of the air and to the ground to be washed away.
Funny enough, the snowiest city in the United States is New York City, which also happens to be the busiest city in the U.S. Would it be safe to say that the Earth gathers this data, the same as we do? Think about a building with heavy foot traffic. The building engineer would have to have some great filters in place to prevent airborne illnesses from developing or traveling between occupants. So, the next time we have a random snow day, think about and appreciate the natural filtration within our ecosystems!
If you’re interested in learning about Filternomics and earning a certification in HVAC, please call 301-925-1604 to get more information on the next available classes. Help us keep our buildings green and clean as the Earth does for us.
