All the Different Types of Snow Explained
There aren't really 100 words for snow, but there are quite a few! Check out this list, did we forget any?
Quick Reference
- Inuit count: Likely around 50 distinct words for snow, not 100. Each describes a different texture or use.
- English count: Nearly as many, when you include weather, sport, and folklore terms.
- Most common: Snowflake, powder, slush, blizzard, flurry.
- Strangest: Penitents (spike formations), snirt (snow + dirt), graupel (soft hail-like flakes).
- Most useful for forecasting: Blizzard, snow squall, ground blizzard, lake-effect snow, whiteout.
Legend says the Inuit have more than 100 words for snow. The real number is debated; linguists think it is closer to 50. That sounds like a lot until you count the English equivalents. Between weather terminology, mountaineering vocabulary, and farm folklore, English has nearly as many words for the white stuff. Here is the Almanac’s guide to the different types of snow and what each one is called.
Types of Snow, From A to W
- Barchan: A horseshoe-shaped snowdrift.
- Blizzard: A violent winter storm with subfreezing temperatures, strong winds, and snowfall. To officially qualify as a blizzard, the storm must reduce visibility to less than a quarter mile and last at least three hours.
- Corn snow: Coarse, granular wet snow formed by repeated cycles of melting and refreezing. Common in spring skiing.
- Cornice: An overhanging accumulation of ice and wind-blown snow, often found on a ridge or cliff face. Dangerous in the mountains.
- Column: A snowflake shaped like a six-sided column.
- Crust: A hard, frozen layer of snow over softer snow underneath.
- Dendrite: The classic six-pointed snowflake shape that decorates every winter card.
- Finger drift: A narrow snowdrift across a roadway, so named because several together look like fingers on a hand.
- Firn: Snow more than a year old, but not yet consolidated into ice. A key stage in glacier formation.
- Flurry: A brief snowfall that produces little to no accumulation.
- Graupel: Also called snow pellets. Round opaque flakes that look like polystyrene beads. They form when normal snowflakes fall through supercooled cloud droplets that freeze on contact. Smaller and less dense than hail. More on graupel.
- Ground blizzard: A windstorm without active snowfall that lifts existing surface snow into the air and reduces visibility.
- Hoarfrost: Spiky frost that looks like an old man’s white beard, which is where it gets its name (hoar means ancient). Forms when water vapor freezes directly onto a very cold surface, skipping the liquid stage. Common on wires, branches, plant stems. More on frost types.
- Hominy snow: A South Midland regional term for icy, granular snow that resembles hominy corn.
- Lake-effect snow: Produced when icy winds move across warmer lake water, picking up moisture and dumping it on the downwind shore. Famous in the Great Lakes region.
- Needle: A long, thin snowflake shape, much longer than wide.
- New snow: Recent snowfall in which individual ice crystals can still be seen.
- Old snow: Snowpack in which crystals can no longer be made out by eye.
- Penitents: Tall thin spikes of hardened snow that can range from inches to several feet in height. They form on high mountain plateaus where the sun cuts vertical grooves into firn.
- Perennial snow: Snow that survives on the ground for more than a year.
- Pillow drift: A wide, deep snowdrift across a roadway.
- Polycrystal: A formation of several snowflakes that fuse into one larger flake before hitting the ground.
- Powder: New snow made of loose, fresh crystals. The skier’s word for paradise.
- Rimed snow: Snowflakes coated in tiny frozen droplets called rime.
- Ripples: Wind-carved patterns on the surface of snow, like sand ripples on a beach.
- Roller: A naturally formed cylinder of snow rolled along by the wind.
- Sastrugi: Irregular grooves and ridges in snow shaped by the wind. Common in Antarctica and on northern Plains farm fields.
- Seasonal snow: Total snow accumulation during one season.
- Sleet: Rain mixed with snow.
- Slush: Partially melted snow on the ground.
- Snirt: Snow mixed with dirt. A favorite Midwest farm-country word.
- Snow bridge: An arch formed by snow and wind, often across a creek or crevasse.
- Snowdrift: Snow on the ground blown by wind to a height greater than the total snowfall.
- Snow squall: A brief intense snow shower that does not qualify as a blizzard because of short duration. Can drop visibility to zero in minutes.
- Snowburst: An intense snow shower that produces big accumulation in a short window.
- Snowflake: A cluster of ice crystals that falls from a cloud.
- Snowpack: The total amount of all snow and ice on the ground, including recent snowfall and what survives from earlier.
- Snowstorm: Any weather event with large amounts of snowfall.
- Sun cups: Shallow bowl-shaped hollows in snow carved by uneven sunlight, common on spring snowfields.
- Whiteout: A blizzard or squall that reduces visibility to near zero. Whiteout safety guide.
Snow Words by Category
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Falling flakes | Snowflake, dendrite, column, needle, polycrystal, graupel, rimed |
| Snow on the ground | New snow, old snow, powder, crust, corn snow, slush, hominy snow, firn, perennial snow, snowpack |
| Wind-shaped formations | Snowdrift, barchan, finger drift, pillow drift, sastrugi, cornice, snow bridge, roller, ripples |
| Weather events | Blizzard, snow squall, snowburst, snowstorm, ground blizzard, lake-effect snow, whiteout, flurry |
| Mountain features | Penitents, sun cups, firn, cornice |
| Mixed forms | Sleet, snirt, hoarfrost |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many words for snow are there really?
The Inuit count is debated. Linguists estimate the actual number across various Inuit and Yupik languages is closer to 50 distinct terms. English has roughly the same when you count weather, mountaineering, and folklore vocabulary together.
What is the difference between a snow flurry and a snow squall?
A flurry is a brief, light snowfall with no real accumulation. A squall is a brief but intense snow shower that can drop visibility to zero in minutes. Squalls have caused some of the worst highway pile-ups in U.S. history.
When is a snowstorm officially a blizzard?
When visibility drops below one-quarter mile, the winds reach at least 35 mph, and the conditions last at least 3 hours. That is the official National Weather Service definition. Snowfall does not have to be falling at the time; a ground blizzard can also qualify.
What is graupel?
Sometimes called snow pellets. Round opaque flakes that look like polystyrene beads. They form when normal snowflakes fall through supercooled cloud droplets and the droplets freeze on contact. Graupel is smaller and less dense than hail.
What is hoarfrost?
Spiky white frost that forms when water vapor freezes directly onto a very cold surface, skipping the liquid stage. The name comes from the word hoar (meaning ancient or aged), because the spikes resemble an old man’s white beard.
What is sastrugi?
Wind-carved grooves and ridges in snow. They look like frozen wave patterns. Sastrugi are common in Antarctica, on Arctic sea ice, and in open Plains farm fields after a long blow.
Are there any types of snow we left out? Tell us in the comments below.
Jaime McLeod
Jaime McLeod is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, growing and eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.
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Base, packed powder
Aside from known pointedly meteorological terms, ‘Fluff’ referring to a grouping of snow flakes falling in conditions right for grouping together, perfect for a good ‘white out’.
You forgot “dry” and “wet” snow
How much snow is predicted for Westcliffe Colorado
You forgot Avalanche/
Thundersnow
Onion snow…. a term used here in Pa. (Linda Arnold)
we used to have two terms for new snowfall…is it sticking?..is it laying?…please research and define these for me…thanks…
I live in Colorado. Last Spring we had a long-lasting blizzard that the weather people called a “bomb cyclone.” Is that a real meteorological term? I had never heard it before. Sounds like a hyper-dramatical way of saying, a blizzard.
Thunder Snow..