Wind turbines spin against the setting sun just north of Watertown along Interstate 29. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Skiiers and snowboarders are at unique risk of sunburn, in no small part because they’re getting it from all sides. For one thing, the Earth is roughly 1.7 percent closer to the Sun in, say, early January compared to the annual average. This means that they get about 3.3 percent more sunshine, though that’s not the factor moving the needle. The main contributing factor is reflected radiation from the snow or the “albedo.” Fresh powder usually rocks an albedo of nearly 95 percent, meaning that the solar radiation coming off the snow is nearly as strong as the solar radiation coming from the source.
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