Weather Words: Snowfall Rate

This segment originally appeared in today's edition of the Morning Brief newsletter. Sign up here to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

Let’s be honest – not all snowstorms are created equal. Some like to take their sweet time, while others come in like a flurry-filled freight train. That’s where the snowfall rate comes in. It’s not just about how much snow falls, but how fast it piles up.

With any type of precipitation, the rate at which it falls is extremely important. The snowfall rate is the rate at which the snow falls in a given time.

For example, during heavy snow events you might hear a meteorologist say that the snowfall rate is two to three inches per hour. The higher the snowfall rate, the higher the impacts are going to be. Not only will the snowfall totals be higher - if the high snowfall rate lasts for several hours at a time, but visibility will be greatly reduced due to high snowfall rates. Many times gusty winds are also present where there is a high snowfall rate, so that also contributes to low visibility.

A storm that produces a high snowfall rate in a short time can be more disruptive than a longer-duration storm with the same total snowfall. Meteorologists use snowfall rate predictions to help determine whether an area will face blizzard-like conditions, school closures, or significant disruptions to transportation.

A snowfall rate of less than half an inch per hour can produce a beautiful winter landscape, while two to three inch snowfall rates per hour can quickly accumulate on roads, sidewalks and bridges, making for extremely dangerous to impossible conditions.

J​ennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.