Nighttime forecast for Mars: Bursts of rapidly falling snow

Headed to Mars? Remember to pack your snow gear. Turns out that there are snowstorms on the Red Planet at night, according to a new paper.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, could shed light on the dynamics of the planet's ancient climate - and reveal that even today, Mars remains a more dynamic world than some scientists expected.

Today, the Red Planet seems dusty, rusty and dry, with an atmosphere that's about 100 times thinner than Earth's. But scientists say that early in its history, Mars probably looked a lot like Earth, with a thick atmosphere, puffy clouds and liquid water. That's part of why researchers study Mars - to understand why our next-door neighbor ended up with such a different fate than that of our planetary home.