noun

• 1A heavy fall of snow, especially with a high wind.

  ‘If the temperature rises during or after a snowstorm, it means heavier, wetter snow will be deposited on a less-stable powder base, increasing the risk of a slide.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Heavy rain, snowstorms and tornadoes make holiday travel extremely difficult for some travelers tonight.’
  • ‘In early May an unusually heavy snowstorm deposited record snowfall.’
  • ‘Instead of cold dry snowstorms, wet snow and warmer than normal temperatures should occur as storm systems traverse the southern third of the United States in late winter.’
  • ‘The first day of classes was delayed by a heavy snowstorm; it was such as only occurs once every ten years, and people were in mixed moods when they finally came inside a warm classroom.’
  • ‘It's the end of the working day, but a heavy snowstorm has brought chaos to public transport and gridlock to the roads, thus trapping everyone in the smoking room after hours.’
  • ‘When you have to drive your car through a heavy snowstorm, you can't help but pay attention to every bump and slide.’
  • ‘One morning, because of a heavy snowstorm, the messenger took the bus instead of driving.’
  • ‘A heavy snowstorm came upon them and he contracted a cold from which he never recovered.’
  • ‘It claims more victims each year than do snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes.’
  • ‘Among the many things that drivers would hate about the winter are snowfalls and snowstorms.’
  • ‘Furious winds and snowstorms halted the salvage operation on Friday, but gave way to clearing skies yesterday morning.’
  • ‘The previous weekend there had been snowstorms; snow still lay on the ground around the house.’
  • ‘The plumbing froze in the heaviest snowstorm of the year.’
  • ‘And it was, I think, fate, because there was a horrible snowstorm and Gary got snowed in for three days.’
  • ‘The seasonal weather continues through the month with gusts of up to seventy and eighty miles an hour and the occasional snowstorm, cloudburst and a touch of frost thrown in.’
  • ‘Patrick had told her it was strong enough to withstand many weather conditions, including hurricanes and snowstorms.’
  • ‘Will local meteorologists apply their teaching skills to this story as effectively as they explain hurricanes and snowstorms?’
  • ‘We are hoping that this will be a very busy year and the talk of tornados and snowstorms won't put people off.’
  • ‘Winchester firefighters were also caught up in the bad weather when they had to walk part of the way to a house in the city struck by lightning during the snowstorm after their fire engine got stuck in heavy traffic.’

  1. 1.1A shower or large quantity of something.
     ‘it swam away in a flurry of wings and flippers, raising a snowstorm of foam’
     More example sentences

     • ‘It is every air traffic controller's nightmare when a snowstorm of blips shows up on the radar screen.’
     • ‘When the wind kicks up, I feel as if I'm standing in a snowstorm of pods and pollen.’
     • ‘But the two fires converged and saturated the compound in what one resident described as ‘a snowstorm of smoke.’’
     • ‘Joey was leaning against the wall, his short, black hair more conspicuous than ever, and he had it covered with his hands, as if there was a snowstorm of dandruff on it.’
     • ‘It has denied that it's fiddling prices on its online promotion, in response to a snowstorm of customer complaints.’
     • ‘The desktop Trash Can, window buttons, dialog boxes and a task scheduler have all been claimed as intellectual property in a snowstorm of greedy patent filings.’
     • ‘Cameron turned left, her head swirling with a snowstorm of thoughts.’
     • ‘Automatic weapon fire dissolved the first car in a snowstorm of broken glass.’
     • ‘She discharged a shot into the ceiling, bringing a snowstorm of alien plaster falling on their heads.’
  2. 1.2A toy or ornament consisting of a model of a scene in a liquid containing white particles which, when shaken, mimic a snowstorm.