snowpack

American  

[snoh-pak] / ˈsnoʊˌpæk /

noun

1. the accumulation of winter snowfall, especially in mountain or upland regions.

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snowpack British  

/ ˈsnəʊˌpæk /

noun

1. a quantity of fallen snow that has become massed together

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snowpack Scientific  

/ snō′păk′ /

1. An area of naturally formed, packed snow that usually melts during the warmer months.

2. The amount of snow that accumulates annually in a mountainous area.

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Etymology

Origin of snowpack

First recorded in 1945–50; snow + pack ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snowpack

Record-low snowpack across the West is lowering reservoir levels and could curb production of low-cost hydropower.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Meanwhile May was warm, causing the snowpack to disappear earlier.

From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026

Snowfall in the Gila River watershed was exceptionally scarce, leaving mountain snowpack at just 2 percent of the 1991-2020 March median.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2026

“There’s never been a winter like this, where we had virtually no precipitation, very little snow, very little rain. We count on that snowpack from the mountains,” he said.

From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2026

His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer