Science
Winter 2026-27: What's Really Falling With America's Snow?
California – As millions of Americans prepare for the first snowflakes of winter 2026 27, scientists have uncovered something surprising about what may be falling from the sky alongside the snow.
By Paige Sullivan · 2026-10-29T10:25:17.965Z
California – As millions of Americans prepare for the first snowflakes of winter 2026 27, scientists have uncovered something surprising about what may be falling from the sky alongside the snow.
Tiny pieces of plastic.
According to researchers at the University of California, Riverside, microplastics were discovered in snowfall at all seven locations studied in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, including isolated areas far from cities, highways and everyday human activity.
Some locations were so remote that researchers had to travel by ski or chairlift just to collect fresh snow.
Lead researcher Aleksandra Karapetrova expected at least some of those untouched locations to be free of plastic pollution.
“But no matter how far out the site, I always found microplastics there,” Karapetrova said.
The findings, published in Environmental Science & Technology , revealed that snowstorms deposited between 270 and 3,200 plastic particles per square meter daily at remote mountain locations.
Near Mammoth Mountain, researchers recorded as many as 7,500 particles per square meter per day.
So how does plastic end up in snow?
Scientists say everyday products, including clothing, food packaging and other plastics, release microscopic particles into the environment. Those particles can become airborne, travel with the wind and eventually fall back to Earth.
When snowflakes form and fall, they can collect those particles from the atmosphere, carrying them to the ground.
The discovery is especially significant because Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies approximately 30% of California's freshwater.
Researchers did not determine whether the particles ultimately reach drinking water or pose health risks.
The study also does not prove that snow across the United States contains similar levels of plastic.
Still, as winter 2026 27 approaches, the findings offer Americans something to think about the next time fresh snow covers their lawns, cars and sidewalks.
Even snow falling in some of the country's most remote mountain landscapes may contain more than frozen water.
Source: University of California, Riverside; Environmental Science & Technology .