Types of Snow

When you hear or read the snow report, they usually talk about what kind of snow you will be riding on. The written report will even have some abbreviations that may leave you thinking you are in some foreign country.

Lets give out a "Nerd Alert" and start talking about snow! When water vapor freezes on a particle of dust in the clouds,snow crystals are born. Microscopic bits of soil, clay,sand and ash are common nuclei. Cloud temperatures are generally +10 degrees F to -4 degrees F. before snow begins to form. Vapor changes to snow even without nuclei at high altitudes in supersaturated air at -38 degrees F.

Snow can be classified into six basic patterns called: Needles, columns, plates, columns capped with plates, dendrites, and stars. Each type is the result of different atmospheric and temperature conditions within the cloud.

End of Nerd Alert!!!

These are the

Types of Snow

Corn Snow - Most likely during spring the snow gets wet and granular from freezing at night and melting during the day, as it melts it becomes heavy.

Crud - Crud is left over powder, its been ridden on so much that some parts will be packed down and some parts will be piled up, very uneven.

Crust- Soft snow with a top layer of hard snow. It can be formed by a number of things. Sunlight, freezing rain, or the melting and refreezing of the top layer of powder.

Loose Granular- Small loose pellets of snow created by grooming of wet or icy snow.

Powder- Powder is fresh snow that is very light. Formed by tiny snow flakes, very soft. Not compacted.

Slush- Snow that starts to melt, very heavy and very wet. Snowboarding slush is a lot of fun if you have the right wax.

Wet Granular- Really wet snow if you look at it it looks like tiny balls have formed, it is very easy to make a snowball with this type of snow.

Abbreviations

PDR: Powder

PP: Packed Powder

HP: Hard Pack (Snow becomes very packed dpwn. The snow has never melted and re-crystallized, but it's been compressed through grooming and wind)

MGS: Machine Groomed Snow

WETSN: Wet Snow (Powder or packed powder snow that has become moist due to melting or rainfall, or moist when it fell.)

WPS: Wet packed Snow

LSGR: Loose Granular

FRGR: Frozen Granular

WETGR: Wet Granular

ICE: Icy Conditions not the same as Frozen Granular.

VC: Variable Conditions (You will find all kinds of snow, granular, powder, packed, no snow all in the same run.

CORN: Corn Snow

SC: Spring Conditions

WBLN: Windblown Snow

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