snowstorm
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of snowstorm
Explanation
A snowstorm is a disturbed weather event that leads to a whole lot of white, frozen precipitation. If there's a snowstorm in the forecast, you may want to reschedule your picnic! Among all the various kinds of storms — including windstorms, rainstorms, and hailstorms — only a snowstorm has the potential to bury your car under a fluffy pile of snow. If it gets windy enough, a snowstorm can become a blizzard, dumping so much blowing snow that you can't see through it. Snowstorm merges snow and storm, which comes from a root word that means "to whirl or turn."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Congress was out and the streets of D.C. were still frozen over with the “snowcrete” left from the recent snowstorm.
From Slate • Mar. 10, 2026
Video taken Monday afternoon in Washington Square Park shows a snowball fight following an epic snowstorm devolving into some parkgoers apparently targeting police with snowballs.
From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026
Shares of air carriers were losing ground in early Monday trading, as a massive snowstorm forced thousands of flight cancellations and delays, as well as ground stops at multiple airports in the Northeast U.S.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 23, 2026
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday ordered the shutdown of the city's entire traffic network for all but emergency travel ahead of a massive snowstorm expected to hit the northeast United States.
From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026
We lost old Widefoot to that very first snowstorm.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
