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The Inuit may or may not have hundreds of different words for snow, but the "S" section of the Weather.com Glossary has a number of its own. Using this exhaustive meteorological resource, as well as Accuweather.com and National Weather Service, we managed to isolate the terms in question: Snow: This refers to the white, cold, flakey stuff itself. It does not describe any particular manifestation thereof. Snow Flurry: Light, intermittent snowfall without any significant accumulation of snow on the ground. Snow Shower: A
short duration of light to moderate snowfall. Snow showers are characterized by their sudden beginnings and endings -- they're finite. They usually leave snow on the ground, but not always. Also, snow showers come from cumuliform clouds, as opposed to stratiform clouds. In addition, a snow squall is a heavy snow shower accompanied by strong winds. Snow fall is the measure (in inches) of snow depth over a given area in a six-hour period. Head to Weather.com for more definitions of snow rollers, snow garlands, snow eaters, and snow devils.
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