What determines if it’s light, fluffy snow or heavy, wet snow?

Snowfall accumulation can be increased when significantly colder air is present. One of the basic principles of the atmosphere states that, “The atmosphere’s ability to hold moisture is directly related to the air temperature at any given time.” A warm atmosphere can hold tremendous amounts of water vapor while a cold atmosphere has a very limited ability to hold moisture.

Here’s an example: If the air temperature is 30 degrees and the area receives 0.50” of liquid precipitation. This would equate to roughly 5” of snow. That same amount of liquid at 10 degrees would equate to 15” of snow. The fluffy snow at 10 degrees is also much easier to shovel and plow compared to the "slushier" snow around 30 degrees.