SNOWFALL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does snowfall mean? 

• SNOWFALL (noun)
  The noun SNOWFALL has 1 sense:

1. precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals

  Familiarity information: SNOWFALL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SNOWFALL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

snow; snowfall

Hypernyms ("snowfall" is a kind of...):

downfall; precipitation (the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist))

Meronyms (parts of "snowfall"):

flake; snowflake (a crystal of snow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "snowfall"):

flurry; snow flurry (a light brief snowfall and gust of wind (or something resembling that))

whiteout (an arctic atmospheric condition with clouds over snow produce a uniform whiteness and objects are difficult to see; occurs when the light reflected off the snow equals the light coming through the clouds)

 Context examples 

This deposit probably formed as snowfall accumulating into an ice sheet mixed with dust during a period in Mars history when the planet's axis was more tilted than it is today.

(Mars Ice Deposit Holds as Much Water as Lake Superior, NASA)

The authors speculate that delayed freezing of the sea surface may contribute to the thinning trend, as heavy snowfalls in September and October now fall into the open ocean.

(Snow cover on Arctic Sea ice has thinned 30 to 50 percent, NASA)

One night there was a heavy snowfall, and in the morning Pike, the malingerer, did not appear.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

They were far off, but the sound, even though coming muffled through the deadening snowfall, was full of terror.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

These mismatched hares showed up at the same time that climate modelers were announcing consistent and drastic decreases in seasonal snowfall across the Northern Hemisphere.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

While the most impressive feature of the device is creating electricity, it also acts as a handy weather station that can tell users data on the amount and direction of snowfall as well as the direction and speed of the wind.

(Nanogenerator Creates Electricity from Snowfall, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The technique makes the best use of several kinds of data: ice thickness measurements derived from airborne radar; satellite radar interferometry data on the speed and direction of ice movement: and estimates of snowfall and surface melt to the sea.

(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)

We had to take some of our provisions, too, for we were in a perfect desolation, and, so far as we could see through the snowfall, there was not even the sign of habitation.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)