Minecraft:Snowfall

File:Snowfall Vibrant Visuals.png

Snowfall in a grove with Minecraft:jagged peaks in the background Template:In

Snowfall is a type of Minecraft:weather that occurs occasionally in Minecraft:Minecraft and accumulates Minecraft:snow layers on the surface.

Behavior

Snowfall is a temporary, biome-specific occurrence that replaces Minecraft:rain in snowy biomes. It only occurs above a certain height in cold biomes like Minecraft:windswept hills and Minecraft:taigas. Snowfall also occurs in Minecraft:frozen ocean biomes, where it occurs in certain locations, while it rains in others, as a result of a temperature gradient within the biome. In temperate and warm biomes, snowfall can occur only at layers above the block height limit. Snowfall does not exist in other Minecraft:dimensions than the Overworld.

File:Snow transition layers.png

The randomized transition layers of snowfall in windswept hills

Below are the Minecraft:altitudes at which rain ends and snow begins, depending on the biome. The exact height of the snow line is randomized per block using a noise: for example in taigas, the lowest possible snow layer forms at y level 153, and the minimum height where snow forms at all locations is y level 168, with snow lines ranging between y levels 153 and 168 across different locations.

Biome	Layer
Template:BiomeLink	y=-64 (All altitudes)
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink<ref name="MC-240697">Template:Bug</ref> Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only<ref>Template:Bug</ref>Template:Note Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only	120±8
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only	160±8
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only Template:BiomeLinkTemplate:Only	200±8
Template:BiomeLink	356±8 (out of world)
Template:BiomeLink	-64 or 120±8, depending on location
Template:BiomeLink	120±8 or 356±8, depending on location

The average snowfall lasts 0.5–1 Minecraft day, and there is a 0.5–7.5 day delay between snowstorms. Snowstorms have a small chance to worsen into Minecraft:thunderstorms, which keep the effects from both weather types, although lightning does not occur.

Effects

File:Snowfalltundra.png

Snow falling in a snowy taiga Template:In

File:Snowing BE.jpg

Snow falling in a snowy taiga in Bedrock Edition

Snowstorms darken the world, causing the Minecraft:light from the Minecraft:sun to decrease by 3, bringing it to light level 12 in full daylight. Moonlight, however, is not reduced, and remains at light level 4. Template:IN, the Minecraft:sky darkens in all biomes with different colors (see Template:Slink for a full list). Template:IN, the sky or Minecraft:atmospherics turn to Template:Color in all biomes, except dry biomes with Minecraft:Vibrant Visuals. Minecraft:Fog grows in density, decreasing view distance by 30%, and is colored in classic graphics Template:Color (Template:Color in Minecraft:pale gardens).

Celestial bodies (the Minecraft:sun, Minecraft:moon, and Minecraft:stars) are no longer visible.<ref>"You can't see sun/moon/stars while it's raining, and days are one level darker." - @notch on Twitter, April 7, 2011 (Archived)</ref> In Bedrock Edition, the sun and moon are still visible in biomes with no precipitation, but Minecraft:stars aren't. Minecraft:Clouds darken from white to gray (95% Template:Color blended with regular colors in Bedrock Edition). Although the sun is not visible during snowfall, the glow associated with sunrise and sunset is still visible,Template:Only or mie scattering with Vibrant Visuals.

Template:IN, all Minecraft:leaves that are exposed to the sky in snowy biomes, with the exception of cherry, pale oak, and azalea, slowly change from green to white once snowfall begins and for its duration, giving them a frosted appearance. Leaves placed after this transition has occurred for a particular snowfall cycle appear frosted as soon as they are placed. Leaf particles also turn white during snowfall, with the same colors as leaves.

File:More snow accumulation.png

Large piles of snow created by snowfall

When it snows, snow layers regenerate over all blocks with a solid top surface at integer y-values.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref> Template:IN, these snow layers naturally accumulate over time, with each Minecraft:biome having its own value determining how fast snow accumulates, with a maximum of the level of a full block (8 layers). Template:IN, snowfall creates one layer of snow by default, and the number of layers that can accumulate can be altered by the Minecraft:game rule Template:Cd; setting it to Template:Cd makes no snow form at all, and setting it to Template:Cd or above lets snow form up to the level of a full block. Snow can also generate Minecraft:snowlogged in certain types of vegetation in Bedrock Edition.

Snow particles

Falling snowflake Minecraft:particle effects are visible through the air over all cold regions during snowfall. Unlike with rain, any entities that are on Minecraft:fire are not extinguished on contact with snow. Template:IN, snowflakes fall in the two middle lines of a block; they do not visibly fall directly onto the Minecraft:player. Template:IN, snow particles can fall twisting, bending, and moving around, independent of a block.

On the border of a snowy biome and rainy biome, snowfall gradually transforms into rainfall up to eight blocks from the border in Bedrock Edition. This also happens when the biomes border each other in vertical direction, and has no influence on snow generation or melt. In Java Edition, no transition between biomes exists at all and the border between snowfall and rainfall is visible on the edge of single blocks.

In Bedrock Edition, stony shores and dripstone caves allow snowfall to border biomes with no precipitation at higher altitudes. While nearing a dry biome, the density of snow particles decreases and the sky brightens. At the border of rainfall, snowfall, and no precipitation, rain and snow particles are both visible with a lower density.

Powder snow

During snowfall, Minecraft:cauldrons under the sky slowly fill with Minecraft:powder snow.

History

Old snowfall heights

This table lists snowfall heights in all biomes before Minecraft:Caves & Cliffs: Part II. The biome's temperature did not change; rather, the maximum temperature for snowfall was lowered.

Biome	Layer
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink	90±8
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink	120±8
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink	150±8Template:Only 160±8Template:Only

Trivia

• Snow still falls above the clouds. Notch's explanation is that the gray above the clouds during a storm is another layer of clouds and the origin of the snow.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>
• At extremely high Y values, snow appears to fall more slowly and the texture of the snow particles becomes vertically stretched. The slowed falling speed becomes noticeable at around Y=200000, while the vertical stretching effect becomes noticeable around Y=1000000

Gallery

Screenshots

• Snowfall at night in snowy plains Template:In
  Snowfall at night in snowy plains Template:In
• Snowfall at Minecraft:midnight
  Snowfall at Minecraft:midnight
• A timelapse of leaves becoming frosted at the start of snowfall in Minecraft:Bedrock Edition
  A timelapse of leaves becoming frosted at the start of snowfall in Minecraft:Bedrock Edition
• Comparison of snowfall in Java and Bedrock editions
  Comparison of snowfall in Java and Bedrock editions
• The boundary between rain and snow in Minecraft:Java Edition
  The boundary between rain and snow in Minecraft:Java Edition
• The transition between snowfall and rainfall in Bedrock Edition
  The transition between snowfall and rainfall in Bedrock Edition
• Trees at the boundary of a snowy taiga and windswept hills biome in Bedrock Edition, showing both types of leaves
  Trees at the boundary of a snowy taiga and windswept hills biome in Bedrock Edition, showing both types of leaves
• The transition between snowfall and no precipitation when a stony shore borders a Minecraft:desert
  The transition between snowfall and no precipitation when a stony shore borders a Minecraft:desert
• The occurrence of all three weather types visible at once, rain, snow, and clear weather
  The occurrence of all three weather types visible at once, rain, snow, and clear weather
• Snow falling on a snowy taiga hills Minecraft:village in Bedrock Edition
  Snow falling on a snowy taiga hills Minecraft:village in Bedrock Edition
• Snowfall in snowy mountains
  Snowfall in snowy mountains
• A snow Minecraft:mod in Minecraft Classic
  A snow Minecraft:mod in Minecraft Classic
• Snowfall in Minecraft Alpha
  Snowfall in Minecraft Alpha