Art is magical because it can be found anywhere at any time. So when New Yorkers got close to three feet of snow dumped on their city, many dug deep into their creative sides. They took to the parks and contributed to building a winter wonderland of whimsical snow creatures.
Of course, this wasn’t just any snowfall. It was a full-on blizzard causing travel bans, school and street closures, and power outages in all five New York City boroughs and the surrounding cities and states in the Northeast.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced an old-fashioned snow day by FaceTiming an 8th-grade student named Victoria. “So my only ask to you is that you just stay safe, stay indoors during the height of the storm,” he told her. “Once that has passed, feel free to go out and sled.”
Artists got creative
For many residents, the powdery, white snow became a sculpting canvas. Photographer Matthew Dean Stewart took to a park in Brooklyn to show off some of the most adorable creations. Captioning the video, “I LOVE BROOKLYN,” we first see a puppy snowman who looks not unlike a Pixar character begging for love.
Then he moves on to a more traditional snowman, complete with an orangey pink nose that he, of course, “boops.” Another snowman has an orange hat. Yet another is just basic snowballs piled atop one another.
Stewart also points out a detailed pyramid that someone built. “How did they even DO that? That’s pretty impressive.”
We next see a woman on the ground stirring strawberry ice cream in a silver bowl. “She’s making ice cream in the snow!” Stewart exclaims. She gives him a spoonful to which he replies, “This is so good. This is the best day of my life.”
Aside from traditional snowmen (giant, faceless, tiny carrot-nosed), some sculptures were clearly made by potentially professional artists. One snowperson is wrapped around a tree, complete with hair made from leaves. “It has hair! And it has a butt!” Stewart points out.
Another is a “study” Hello Kitty snow-cat. Then we get to the duck. “It’s a duck. What else would it be? That’s like super detailed,” Stewart quips.
Some people got incredibly creative and used trees as the actual canvas and snow as the “paint.” “That is adorable. It looks like it has hair,” he says about one. Another artist used a similar idea to “paint” a snow lizard climbing a tree.
Perhaps coolest of all: other artists built an actual igloo on which they’ve written “The people’s igloo.” They sit inside, illuminated by a light (possibly from a smartphone!).
It’s Stewart’s joyous giggling and earnest commentary that gives the snow creature tour that extra delightful touch. “That s–t was whimsical as f$%$,” he concludes.
The comment section agrees. The clip already has over 265,000 likes and thousands of comments. One notes, “The fact that I know without a doubt that every single one of them was made by fully grown adults and not one actual kid was around for the making of these snowmen is hilarious.”
Others simply marvel at the whimsy of the city. “What a display of joy!” “This is incredible – so New York!” one writes. “Humans at their finest. It’s freezing and they made art. AI could never,” said another.
A few of the artists eventually came forward to claim their work: Dori Miller (@dori.miller) writes, “I made that lizard!” And when asked who designed the “tree hugger,” Michael Galligan (@Michael_galligan) chimed in, “That was me and Maddy Rosaler (@maddyrosaler).”
Dazed by the igloo, one Instagrammer writes, “I’m sorry, but there aren’t enough people in these comments talking about that igloo. A WHOLE IGLOO! WHAT? Incredible.”
Perfect conditions for snowmen
As terrific as these snow creations are, it takes a certain temperature and snow type to make it all work—even for the most brilliant artists. A 2015 article in Smithsonian Magazine explains the science behind it, citing perfectly-named physicist Dan Snowman, who says, “Snow can be either too wet or too dry.”
“Scientists actually classify snow based on its moisture content—the amount of free water relative to ice crystals—not to be confused with the amount of water the snow would produce if melted. Snow comes in five categories: dry (zero percent water), moist (less than 3 percent), wet (3 to 8 percent), very wet (8 to 15 percent), and slush (more than 15 percent).”
For snowman-building weather, it’s best to have moist snow. “Dry snow is like a loose powder with particles that don’t stick together very well, while slush is too fluid to hold a shape.”
Temperature-wise, the weather needs to be just a bit above freezing. As for the “where” of it all: “Once the raw material is on the ground, it’s time to select your snowman-building surface. Level ground is best, but asphalt absorbs and holds heat from sunlight, so avoid driveways. A flat spot near the bottom of a large hill could provide shade and keep your creation safe from direct warmth from the sun—although it may wind up as a target for sleds.”
