Does the grass stay green?

Sorry - wasn't sure where to ask this! After reading about the guy in Quebec (loads of snow) building his greenhouse  and the our local news this week featuring clips on 50 yrs after the big freeze of 1963 - if the snow was on the ground for 3 months then was the grass still green when the snow went? How did other spring bulbs/plants fare? I can imagine oxygen/insulation might have been OK but what about light? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm intrigued!

Not dumb chilli lover. It's being able to think thoughts like this that separates us from other animals. Can't answer the question though.

I was 13 -but cant remember-there is a poster on her from Switzerland who would know-but have found a scientific answer that sort of makes sense why it stays green

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/23198-how-does-grass-stay-green-under-snow.html

i think that satisfies me sotongeoff. I was 17, cycling to school every day, sure I would have noticed if grass wasn't green. Equally sure I wouldn't have noticed when the bulbs appeared.

I think we all need to get outside as soon as poss-is this cabin fever or stir crazy?

I've got cabin fever in a big way. But another Angelica gigas germinated today and the first has spread its seed leaves.  I can see that the snowdrops have got taller while the snow has covered them and narcissi leaves are poking through the white stuff. It stopped freezing long enough today for the hellebores to stand upright, the leaves that I haven't removed yet are still under the snow so they didn't mar the picture.

All will be well.

The Alps are covered with snow all winter and loads of people ski but when spring comes the grass grows green and the farmers take their cattle and sheep up to graze in summer.

Thanks for the link Geoff. I was more interged by the picture on the side of your link of the guy up the ladder trying to change a street light, bulb 

Becaulse the snow is made of water crystals a reasonable amount of light gets through to enable photosynthesis to take place - I remember after the awful winter of 62/63 the grass was a little yellowish, but soon perked up 

I'm afraid I wasn't in Switzerland in 1962/3, so can't comment on that, but in the last few years here the grass has always been green after the snow has thawed. In my case, it's mostly green moss , which hubby and I have decided to leave, partly because we're to lazy/old to dig up and reseed the lawn, and partly because green is green, one way or the other!

In my experience, the grass in Switzerland goes brown in winter and looks dreadful as the snow starts to melt, especially in th ehigher skiing zones and the valleys and roads leading to them.  Maybe lower down in the valleys it stays green underneath but not high up.   Here in central Belgium our own grass stays green if the snow doesn't last too long but two years ago when deep snow stayed on the garden and fields for over 6 weeks it was decidedly yellowish but soon recovered.

Thanks for all yor replies. There seems to be mixed experiences of whether it stays green or not! As obelixx is suggesting and as the train companies assert, it might depend on it being the right/wrong kind of snow!