When the term snow is used without qualification, it means precipitation of significant duration and extent. A snow squall brings strong winds, flurries and poor visibility. Blowing snow is lifted by the wind from the earth's surface to a height of 2 m or more, whereas drifting snow is blown to a height of less than 2 m. A blizzard is a severe storm that lasts three or more hours, and brings low temperatures, strong winds and poor visibility due to blowing snow. They always occur in showers and are often accompanied by snow flakes or rain drops, when the surface temperature is around zero Celsius.
Snow grains are minute, white and opaque grains of ice.
When they hit hard ground, they do not bounce or shatter. They usually fall in very small quantities, and never in the form of a shower. Ice pellets are tiny, translucent frozen raindrops or snowflakes, or snow encased in ice, which bounce and make a sound on contact with the ground. Ice crystals are tiny sprinkles that sparkle in the sunshine like diamond dust and hang in the air. Hail is precipitation in the form of lumps of ice, larger than ice pellets, usually the size of peas or cherries but sometimes as large as oranges.