snowdrift

Winter's white mound

A snowdrift is a mound or bank of snow piled up by the wind, often against obstacles like fences, buildings, or walls.

Drifts can grow several feet deep during blizzards, blocking roads and doorways: The car was buried in a snowdrift.

We had to dig through snowdrifts to reach the barn.

accumulation

pile

Accumulated mass of objects

moundHeaped earth formation
bankPlace holding deposits
heapJumbled collection of items

buildup · ridge · formation · cornice · windrow · deposit · layer · mass · embankment · hummock

winter

blizzard

Violent prolonged snowstorm

flurryBrief burst of activity
nor'easterNortheastern coastal storm system
whiteoutSnow blindness weather

gale · squall · frost · freeze · cold snap · powder · snowpack · avalanche · windchill · icicle

obstacle

blocked

Passage prevented or impeded

strandedLeft without means to leave
buriedPlaced beneath earth
impassableImpossible to traverse

stuck · plow · shovel · dig out · snowbound · whiteout · roadblock · barrier · trapped · stalled

landscape

tundra

Frigid treeless biome

prairieOpen grassy flatland
steppeTreeless Eurasian grassland
duneWind-formed sand ridge

windswept · plain · field · expanse · terrain · contour · ridge · hollow · slope · gully

Categories

winterice, cold, frozen, frost, icicle
ice and snowiceberg, ice floe, icicle, glacier, sea ice
Snowsnowpack, snowfield, snowbank, blizzard, powder
accumulationaccumulation, heap, pile, stack, hoard
blizzardwhiteout, wind, ice, cold, freezing
obstaclesbarriers, block, obstacles, barrier, blockers

Opposites

temperature/season

snowdriftsand dune

Wind-formed sand mound

dust devil · desert · heat wave · scorched earth · summer heat

accumulation vs. absence

snowdriftthaw

Return to liquid

natural vs. artificial formation

snowdriftsnow bank

Accumulated winter precipitation mound

Family

snowdrifts, snowdrifted

Familiarity: Top 50,000
Profile: Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G