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DENVER (KDVR) — Another round of snow arrived to the Denver metro area, making road conditions sloppy on Friday morning.

Despite temperatures well below freezing, many roads cleared up for the afternoon.

You might be wondering, “How does snow melt when temperatures are below freezing?”

There is actually a simple explanation: the solar shovel.

Meteorologist Travis Michels said that even though the sun won’t warm the air much, the snow does absorb both visible and UV light from the sun. As it absorbs that light, the snow heats and slowly melts (usually from the top down).

Also, on roads, the black asphalt also absorbs both UV and visible light quickly, so that will warm the road surface above freezing and that warmth then spreads across the rest of the travel lanes.

It will help improve road conditions through the afternoon, especially roads that have moderate to high travel.