snowstorm
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Shoveling out my car after a snowstorm while chatting with an Oura-wearing friend, we speculated about whether the ring would know what I’d been up to.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026
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
Providence, the state capital, received 33in of snow, smashing the existing record for the single greatest snowstorm, 28.6in set in February 1978.
From BBC • Feb. 23, 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
The walk isn’t that bad— it’s not like she made me hike ten miles through a snowstorm uphill in both directions or anything.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
