Eating Snow: Good or Bad Idea?

Kids and dog's do it all the time, but is eating snow a good or bad idea?

As snow falls from the sky it picks up buddies along the way; air pollution, dust and debris. In small quantities, I guess you'd be fine and definitely, if you're trapped in the mountains with no food and water, please eat the snow. (but you should be aware that your core body temperature could be at risk and that you should melt the snow before eating it)

EATING SNOW: GOOD OR BAD IDEA, DO THIS EXPERIMENT AND THEN DECIDE:

• Take a clean plastic container with a lid and fill with fresh snow
• Let the snow melt
• After the snow has melted, place a clean paper towel or coffee filter into a small strainer. Pour the water from the clean plastic container into the filter or paper towel into a bowl and see what is caught, if you can't see anything and think its safe to drink, look at the filter or paper towel again through a magnifying glass.