Snow
Snow was a form of precipitation which occurred when the air temperature was below the freezing point of water. It fell on planets such as Earth, (TV: "The Roof of the World" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"The Roof of the World (1)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"}) Gallifrey, (TV: Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"]; AUDIO: The Toy [+]Loading...["The Toy (audio story)"]) Sto, (TV: Voyage of the Damned [+]Loading...["Voyage of the Damned (TV story)"]) the Ood Sphere (TV: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"]) and Ribos (during its Icetime season). (TV: The Ribos Operation [+]Loading...["The Ribos Operation (TV story)"])
The Tenth Doctor had a particular fondness for snow, commenting with glee when he arrived on Ood Sphere, "snow, real snow". (TV: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"]) According to Maisie Johnson, it never snowed on Christmas Eve. (PROSE: The Gift [+]Loading...["The Gift (TDoC short story)"])
Whenever the Eleventh Doctor saw snow, it made him think of Scotland, and Jamie McCrimmon. (PROSE: The Silent Stars Go By [+]Loading...["The Silent Stars Go By (novel)"]) The Eleventh Doctor once stated that snow could remember, although it existed only as a mirror. (TV: The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])
The snow on Nirvana was pink. (AUDIO: World Apart [+]Loading...["World Apart (audio story)"]) On Gallifrey, the snow covering the planet's tallest mountain, Mount Lung, was grey (TV: The Time Monster [+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"], PROSE: The Three Paths [+]Loading...["The Three Paths (short story)"]) and had natural hallucinogenic properties, capable of making climbers see all manner of visions, including their past and future. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist [+]Loading...["Devil in the Mist (audio story)"])
Instances when it snowed[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1289, the First Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian landed on the snowy Plain of Pamir and had a brief snowball fight. (TV: "The Brink of Disaster" [+]Part of The Edge of Destruction, Loading...{"namedep":"The Brink of Disaster (2)","1":"The Edge of Destruction (TV story)"}, "The Roof of the World" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"The Roof of the World (1)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"})
Upon arriving in 1851 London at Christmas, the Tenth Doctor was very pleased to see actual snow. (TV: The Next Doctor [+]Loading...["The Next Doctor (TV story)"])
When the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler were in Cardiff in 1869, it had snowed before they arrived and it snowed again after they left. (TV: The Unquiet Dead [+]Loading...["The Unquiet Dead (TV story)"])
On Christmas Eve 1892, it was snowing in London although there were no clouds. (WC: Vastra Investigates: A Christmas Prequel [+]Loading...["Vastra Investigates: A Christmas Prequel (webcast)"]) The Great Intelligence used animated snowmen to try to take over the Earth, which could form by themselves, due to them being made up of low-level telepathic snow. This meant that if someone caught in the telepathic field was thinking about the snowmen, then more would have been formed. If that person thought about them melting, they melted. In the early hours of Christmas Day, the Intelligence was overpowered by the tears of an entire family crying for the loss of Clara Oswin Oswald, who had just been invited to be a companion of the Doctor's before she fell to her death. The snow that had been falling was turned into salty rain, the tears of a certain family. (TV: The Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Snowmen (TV story)"])
In 1898, when the Eighth Doctor and Fitz Kreiner were thrust into events at Banquo Manor, its grounds were covered in snow. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy [+]Loading...["The Banquo Legacy (novel)"])
In 1981, when Chris went missing, it was snowing in Newton Aycliffe. (PROSE: Fanboys [+]Loading...["Fanboys (short story)"])
It was snowing in Norwich in April 1995 when the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield visited. Just before they departed, the Doctor said "But if it wasn't for the snow, how could we believe in the immortality of the soul?" When Bernice asked him what he meant, he replied that he didn't have the slightest idea. (PROSE: Human Nature [+]Loading...["Human Nature (novel)"])
There was a heavy snowstorm at Snowcap during the 1986 Cyberman invasion of Earth. Upon arriving the First Doctor described it as "quite an arctic storm". (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"]) Following the arrival of the Twelfth Doctor, the Testimony Foundation froze time, the two Doctors taking note of this when they saw the suspended snowflakes. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])
It was snowing in Antarctica when Sarah Jane Smith was on the Blathereen ship. (TV: The Gift [+]Loading...["The Gift (TV story)"])
When it snowed one Christmas Eve, Maisie Johnson thought it might be a sign she'd finally get to meet Santa Claus. (PROSE: The Gift [+]Loading...["The Gift (TDoC short story)"])
In 2059, the Tenth Doctor was happy to see real snow on Earth after bringing the remaining crew of Bowie Base One back from Mars. (TV: The Waters of Mars [+]Loading...["The Waters of Mars (TV story)"])
Snow fell over Sardicktown when the Eleventh Doctor visited it. (TV: A Christmas Carol [+]Loading...["A Christmas Carol (TV story)"])
The planet where the Eleventh Doctor and the Arwells encountered the Wooden King and Queen was covered in snow. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe [+]Loading...["The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)"])
Snow lay on the surface of the Dalek Asylum when the Eleventh Doctor was sent there. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Asylum of the Daleks (TV story)"])
A "devastatingly snowy planet" in the Third Universe was an unsuitable environment for the Pinguis Bibendum and Puff Tremayne. (PROSE: A World of Pure Unimagination [+]Loading...["A World of Pure Unimagination (short story)"])
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Jackie Reeve's universe, it began to snow all over Earth when the reality bomb extinguished the Sun. (AUDIO: The Endless Night [+]Loading...["The Endless Night (audio story)"])
Fake snow[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor had run into artificial or fake snow several times.
During Christmas Day 2006, the "snow" falling on London was in fact ashes from the remnants of the Sycorax spaceship that had been destroyed by the Torchwood Institute, on Harriet Jones' order. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"]) Shortly after, UNIT's Sgt Catherine Petts later noticed that the "snow" wasn't melting. (PROSE: Project Rooftop [+]Loading...["Project Rooftop (short story)"])
On Christmas Eve 2007, the tenth incarnation of the Doctor used his TARDIS to induce an atmospheric excitation which caused snow to fall in Chiswick for Donna Noble. (TV: The Runaway Bride [+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"])
On Christmas Day 2008, the ballast from the spaceship Titanic went through the atmosphere, where reentry resulted in another instance of falling ash that resembled snow. (TV: Voyage of the Damned [+]Loading...["Voyage of the Damned (TV story)"])
The Snow Farm in the town of Christmas created and dispersed snow as a source of providing water to Christmas and other settlements on the planet Trenzalore. Humans like Crantle went on the "snow run" to take sleds laden with snow to the outlying communities. The Ice Warrior Zontan sabotaged the Snow Farm to blizzard the nearby ridge with heavy snow as part of his plan to bury the Eleventh Doctor in an avalanche. (PROSE: Let it Snow [+]Loading...["Let it Snow (short story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor's comment on snow in Human Nature, along with his reply to Benny's query, is from a quote by Oscar Wilde. Human Nature's author Paul Cornell had previously used this quote as an epigraph in his novel Timewyrm: Revelation.
One of the deleted scenes for The Waters of Mars showed the Tenth Doctor expressing his love for snow, only to have Yuri Kerenski disappoint him, by telling him that it's the "carbon wash" cleaning the atmosphere.
