A Lexicon of Snow

Innuit snow lexemes

1. apun - snow
2. apingaut - first snowfall
3. aput - spread-out snow
4. kanik - frost
5. anigruak - frost on a living surface
6. ayak - snow on clothes
7. kannik - snowflake
8. nutagak - powder snow
9. aniu - packed snow
10. aniuvak - snowbank
11. natigvik - snowdrift
12. kimaugruk - snowdrift that blocks something
13. perksertok - drifting snow
14. akelrorak - newly drifting snow
15. mavsa - snowdrift overhead and about to fall
16. kaiyuglak - rippled surface of snow
17. pukak - sugar snow
18. pokaktok - salt-like snow
19. miulik - sleet
20. massak - snow mixed with water
21. auksalak - melting snow
22. aniuk - snow for melting into water
23. akillukkak - soft snow
24. milik - very soft snow
25. mitailak - soft snow covering an opening in an ice floe
26. sillik - hard, crusty snow
27. kiksrukak - glazed snow in a thaw
28. mauya - snow that can be broken through
29. katiksunik - light snow
30. katiksugnik - light snow deep enough for walking
31. apuuak - snow patch
32. sisuuk - avalanche

English snow and ice lexemes

1. ablation - the process of being removed. Snow ablation usually refers to removal by melting
2. accretion - growth of precipitation particles by collision of ice crystals with supercooled liquid droplets which freeze on impact
3. anchor ice - Submerged ice attached or anchored to the river bed, irrespective of the nature of its formation.
4. avalanche - large amount of snow that falls down a slope due to gravity
5. blizzard - winds of at least 35 miles per hour along with considerable falling and/or blowing snow reducing visibility to less than one-quarter mile for a period of at least three hours.
6. blowing snow - windriven snow
7. boilerplate - skiing term for ice that forms from liquid water (as opposed to compressed snow)
8. bottom ice - ice that is anchored to the bottom of a body of water and cannot float
9. border ice - ice formed along and fastened to the shore. Border ice does not extend the entire width across the river. Also called shore ice.
10. breakup jam - accumulation of broken ice pieces that restricts the flow of water; may contain frazil ice or remnants of freezeup jam.
11. candled ice - decayed sheet ice that takes the appearance of thin vertical crystals shaped like candles.
12. cellular ice - growing ice crystal that proceeds as a bunch of hexagonal prisms
13. corn snow - snow that has partly melted and refrozen and acts like ball-bearings
14. cornice - drift of snow that overhangs a precipice
15. closed cavity ice - a formation like depth hoar that forms from ground water in underground cavities
16. crushed ice - for cocktails
17. crust - hard cohesive layer overtop of softer snow
18. crystal - regular arrangement of water molecules with long-range order
19. cubic ice - ice with cubic symmetry
20. dendrite - hexagonal ice crystals with complex and often fernlike branches.
21. depth hoar - large (one to several millimeters in diameter), cohesionless, coarse, faceted snow crystals which result from the presence of strong temperature gradients within the snowpack
22. dry accretion - accretion through sublimation
23. dusting - very light snowfall, usually of ice crystals that form in the lower atmosphere
24. evaporative icing - ice that forms in an engine due to the cooling effect from evaporation of fuel
25. fast ice - sea ice that forms at the shore and remains fast
26. firn - glacial snow that has survived at least one season
27. flake ice - ice that is fractured parallel to the c-axis to create flakes
28. flurry - snowfall combined with wind
29. frazil - fine, small, needle-like structures or thin, flat, circular plates of ice suspended in water. In rivers and lakes it is formed in turbulent water as supercooled water is brought to the surface
30. freeze - the process of solidification of water
31. freezeup jam - accumulation of frazil that restricts the flow of water; may contain some broken border ice pieces.
32. frost - ice that sublimates onto a surface
33. frozen water - water in the crystalline solid state
34. glacier - snow that accumulates over many years with sufficient weight to form ice under the surface
35. glaze ice - rain that falls on supercooled objects and immediately turns to ice
36. graupel - snowflakes that become rounded pellets due to riming. Typical sizes are two to five millimeters in diameter (0.1 to 0.2 inches). Graupel is sometimes mistaken for hail.
37. grease ice - a later stage of freezing than frazil ice when the crystals have coagulated to form a soupy layer on the surface. Grease ice reflects little light, giving the surface a matt appearance
38. hail - frozen raindrops
39. hardpack - snow that has been packed to the point where it does not yield to body weight
40. hexagonal ice - ice with hexagonal symmetry
41. hoarfrost - frost that grows outward from its substrate (vapour to solid phase transition)
42. ice - crystalline water
43. ice I through ice IVX - different crystalline arrangements that form under various temperature-pressure situations
44. iceberg - part of a glacier that calves into the ocean and floats with the currents
45. ice cream - frozen mixture of water, sugar and fat that tastes delicious
46. ice cube - lump of ice used to chill a rye and coke
47. ice embryo - sub-critical cluster of water molecules
48. ice floe - pack ice that is moving with ocean currents
49. ice lens - lens-shaped ice buildup that forms in soils where water moves through pores to join the crystal (responsible for frost heave)
50. ice shelf - glacial ice that flows out over the sea and remains attached to the glacier
51. ice stalagmites - stalagmites of ice that form on top of ice cubes when the freezing proceeds inward from the edges
52. ice wedge - water that freezes in the crevices of a rock and cause mechanical stress through expansion
53. ice worms - worm-like bubbles in ice cubes caused by exclusion of gas at the interface
54. igloo - snow house made by cutting blocks from windslab snow and arranging them in a dome
55. lake ice - ice that forms on top of a lake
56. melted snow - water that was once snow
57. metamorphism - changes in the structure and texture of snow grains which results from variations in temperature, migration of liquid water and water vapor, and pressure within the snow cover
58. mushy zone - region in which ice and solution co-exist
59. nacelle icing - ice formation on aircraft
60. needle ice - ice that forms in moist soil, dessicating the surrounding soil (see pipkrake)
61. neve - glacial ice formed by enormous pressure compressing snow
62. pack ice - long lasting ice cover over ocean water
63. pancake ice - circular flat accumulations composed of frazil and slush ice with a raised rim; the shape and rim are due to repeated collisions
64. permafrost - soil frost that doesn't melt in the summer
65. pingo ice - huge ice lens that forms underneat a pond causing a hill to rise up to 50m high
66. pipe ice - ice formation inside an enclosed pipe often rupturing the pipe
67. pipkrake - needle-like spicules of ice that grow out of the groundwater from moist, loose soil when there is no freezing in the ground; needles are about 1mm in diameter and can be several centimeters tall.
68. piste - slope of snow suitable for skiing
69. plate ice - ice that forms on top of still water
70. powder - new fallen snow that hasn't sintered or metamorphosed
71. precipitation - the accumulated depth of rain or drizzle and also the melted water content of snow or other forms of frozen precipitation, including hail
72. polycrystal - a snowflake composed of many individual ice crystals
73. quinzy - snow cave built from a pile of soft snow that is allowed to set
74. red snow - blooms of chlamydomonas nivallus in glacial suncups during the summer
75. rime - a deposit of ice formed when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with an object
76. river ice - ice that forms in a river
77. safety snow - artificial snow at a ski resort that is slower than natural snow (derogatory term)
78. sastrugi - skier's term for snow that has melted into breaking waves from the sun
79. sea ice - ice that forms in salt water
80. shear walls - ice left along shoreline when a freezeup or breakup jam fails and moves downstream
81. shorefast ice - sea ice that is anchored to the shoreline
82. sill ice - ice lenses that rupture the ground surface so that the ice is exposed
83. silver frost - frost that grows from the liquid phase (i.e. from dew) rather than gas phase
84. sintering - process of minimizing the surface area to volume ratio, similar to recrystallization
85. slab avalanche - avalanche that begins as a fracture in the surface slab
86. sleet - mixture of rain and hail
87. sluff avalanche - avalanche of powder snow much like a sandpile avalanche
88. slurpee - delicious mix of syrup and ice crystals; the crystals are kept small and round through continuous motion and a high sugar content
89. slush - wet snow
90. snowbank - pile of snow from shoveling or plowing
91. snowcave - cavern dug out of a snow drift
92. snow core - a sample of snow, either just the freshly fallen snow or the combined old and new snow on the ground, obtained by pushing a cylinder down through the snow layer and extracting it
93. snowburst - very intense showers of snow, often of short duration, that greatly restrict visibility and produce periods of rapid snow accumulation
94. snow depth - the combined total depth of both old and new snow on the ground
95. snowdrift - snow that collects in a ridge due to wind
96. snowfall - the depth of new snow that has accumulated since the previous day or since the previous observation
97. snowflake - a cluster of ice crystals that falls from a cloud
98. snow flurries - snow that falls for short durations and which often changes in intensity. Flurries usually produce little accumulation
99. snow fort - protective walls built from snow blocks
100. snow grains - high atmosphere ice crystals accrete rime from supercooled water droplets as they fall.
101. snow house - shelter built from snow with a roof
102. snow load - the downward force on an object or structure caused by the weight of accumulated snow
103. snowman - large balls of snow piled on top of one another to resemble a person
104. snowpack - the total snow and ice on the ground, including both new snow and the previous snow and ice which has not melted
105. snow pellets - larger than snow grains but smaller than graupel; formed the same way.
106. snow rollers - rolled up blankets of snow that accumulate when wet snow falls on icy crust followed by strong, gusty winds
107. snow squall - a brief, but intense fall of snow that greatly reduces visibility and which is often accompanied by strong winds
108. snowstorm - heavy snowfall, usually with wind
109. sublimation - the process in which ice changes directly to water vapor without melting, but also in meteorology the opposite process in which water vapor is transformed to ice (also called deposition)
110. suncups - depressions in the snow caused by sun melting
111. supercooled - the condition when a liquid remains in the liquid state even through its temperature is below its freezing point
112. supersaturation - the condition which occurs in the atmosphere when the relative humidity is greater than 100 percent
113. surface hoar - the deposition (sublimation) of ice crystals on a surface which occurs when the temperature of the surface is colder than the air above and colder than the frost point of that air
114. throttle icing - ice that forms in an engine due to the cooling effect of expansion in the carburetor
115. Tyndall figures - shapes with hexagonal symmetry formed inside an ice crystal due to melting
116. vein ice - ice in soil that encapsulates solid particles
117. vitreous ice - water in the solid state without long range order (i.e. a glass)
118. verglas - thin coating of ice over rocks
119. whiteout - daylight diffused through low, white clouds such that the snow and the sky are indistinguishable. No sense of direction is possible.
120. windpack - crust of snow formed by the action of wind