What does snow melt do to the air temperature?

 

All of this snow in Wigton melted a week ago. I wondered what it does to the air temperature. When H2O changes from solid to liquid, energy is need to break the bonds. Thermal energy can be used to either raise the temperature of a chemical or to change the state, but it can't do both at the same time. So whilst the snow is turning from solid to liquid, it will be taking in thermal energy without the temperature of the snow changing. I have been assuming that the thermal energy comes from the surrounding air, so the mere process of melting should take thermal energy from the air so its temperature should fall, in the same way your hand feels cold when you grasp metal because of the conduction of thermal energy away from the hand. But I did find this which makes an interesting point about sublimation of snow using energy from the Sun. Under the new stores and pathways model, thermal energy from the air would pass to the snow by the "heating by particles" pathway and solar heating would be the "heating by radiation" pathway. The sublimation wouldn't result in a depressed air temperature.