Abstract
According to the author's observations, it is more plausible that downward movement of thaw water in snow is acsribed to connection of water films covering snow particles, rather than that it is caused by capillary attraction of water.
The velocity of downward movement of thaw water does not depend on the specific gravity of snow. but on the size of snow grains. This is explained without difficulty by the water film theory, which is also powerful for explanation of “leader” (water stream) formation.