Blowing, falling and forming into drifts and compacting into ice on roads and sidewalks.

The SnowKing, Anthony Foliot, uses dry snow and ice blocks to form his fascinating sculptures and buildings. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

For those who love snow, Yellowknife is the place to be because we sure have a lot of the frozen white stuff.

Personally, I think it's great. There's nothing like watching clumps of snowflakes drift slowly from the sky coating everything with a crisp white crust.

It seems so clean and pure. A new snow fall cleanses the sidewalks of garbage, frozen spit puddles and yellow dog pee.

But if you knew what snow was made of you might not stick your tongue out to catch the falling flakes.

Snowflakes are actually between two and 200 individual snow crystals all lumped together around specks of dirt. The dirt was carried up into the atmosphere by the wind and when the temperature is cold enough the moisture forms the crystals.

When the flakes get heavy they fall to the earth. A falling snowflake can take up to two hours to hit the ground. The heaviest flakes only travel about one mile per hour.

Snow comes in many forms -- sleet, fluffy snow and hail. It can feel as soft as down or as abrasive as sand scratching across your face.

The secret to snow lies in the temperature of the air. Milder temperatures yield softer packable snow - the best kind for a snowball fight or building a snowman. But in Yellowknife the packable snow is scarce especially during these frigid temperatures.

Snow Facts Instead we have the best snow shelter and sculpture snow -- hey we're known for our igloos. To keep it dry and compact the temperatures must stay below 0 C. And we sure get plenty of those kind of days. The best thing about snow is young or old we all have a blast playing in it. But remember, never, ever eat the yellow snow!

- As of Jan. 24, there was 12 centimetres of snow on the ground Yellowknife

- July is the only month it hasn't snowed in Yellowknife

- November is usually the month with the most snowfall because of warmer temperatures.