description of winter creative writing

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Let it snow: 6 of the best descriptions of winter weather in literature.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful! But the reading is so delightful… Weather (sorry) or not you love the snow—blanketing your driveway, stalling your subway lines—it’s hard to deny that there have been some pretty darn good descriptions of it in literature, the kind that make you want to curl up by the fire (or, in my case, the space heater). Personally, I think I like winter weather best when it’s on the page and not the thing standing between me and the closest bar or the corner bodega when I’m out of popcorn. In an attempt to reframe the cold months ahead for myself, I have assembled some of the most beautiful/relatable descriptions of snow I could find in fiction. Perhaps now I will think of it as one of these instead of being irrationally irritated by Mother Nature’s cruel attempts to curb my snacking and my social life. So, here we go: let it snow! Sit down with these delightfully icy passages, and keep the hot cocoa coming.

From Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina :

At first she was unable to read. To begin with she was bothered by the bustle and movement; then, when the train started moving, she could not help listening to the noises; then the snow that beat against the left-hand window and stuck to the glass, and the sight of the conductor passing by, all bundled up and covered with snow on one side, and the talk about the terrible blizzard outside, distracted her attention. Further on it was all the same; the same jolting and knocking, the same snow on the window, the same quick transitions from steaming heat to cold and back to heat, the same flashing of the same faces in the semi-darkness, and the same voices, and Anna began to read and understand what she was reading.

From Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler :

So here I am walking along this empty surface that is the world. There is a wind grazing the ground, dragging with flurries of fine snow the last residue of the vanished world: a bunch of ripe grapes which seems just picked from the vine, an infant’s woolen bootee, a well-oiled hinge, a page that seems torn from a novel written in Spanish, with a woman’s name: Amaranta. Was it a few seconds ago that everything ceased to exist, or many centuries? I’ve already lost any sense of time.

From Ali Smith’s Winter :

And here instead’s another version of what was happening that morning, as if from a novel in which Sophia is the kind of character she’d choose to be, prefer to be, a character in a much more classic sort of story, perfectly honed and comforting, about how sombre yet bright the major-symphony of winter is and how beautiful everything looks under a high frost, how every grassblade is enhanced and silvered into individual beauty by it, how even the dull tarmac of the roads, the paving under our feet, shines when the weather’s been cold enough and how something at the heart of us, at the heart of all our cold and frozen states, melts when we encounter a time of peace on earth, goodwill to all men; a story in which there is no room for severed heads; a work in which Sophia’s perfectly honed minor-symphony modesty and narrative decorum complement the story she’s in with the right kind of quiet wisdom-from-experience ageing-female status, making it a story that’s thoughtful, dignified, conventional in structure thank God, the kind of quality literary fiction where the slow drift of snow across the landscape is merciful, has a perfect muffling decorum of its own, snow falling to whiten, soften, blur and prettify even further a landscape where there are no heads divided from bodies hanging around in the air or anywhere, either new ones, from new atrocities or murders or terrorisms, or old ones, left over from old historic atrocities and murders and terrorisms and bequeathed to the future as if in old French Revolution baskets, their wickerwork brown with the old dried blood, placed on the doorsteps of the neat and central-heating-interactive houses of now with notes tied to the handles saying please look after this head thank you […]

From Donna Tartt’s The Secret History :

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.

From Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen :

The next day it was snowing and he went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. You sat on the patio drinking something warm and alcoholic, with nutmeg in it, and the snow fell on your shoulders. You were wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt; you were pretending that you weren’t cold, and that your lover would be back soon. You put your finger on the ground and then stuck it in your mouth. The snow looked like sugar, but it tasted like nothing at all.

From Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol :

Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch, all vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the ruddy glow, the hour of night, and they stood in the city streets on Christmas morning where (for the weather was severe) the people made a rough, but brisk and not unpleasant kind of music, in scraping the snow from the pavement in front of their dwellings, and from the tops of their houses, whence it was mad delight to the boys to see it come plumping down into the road below, and splitting into artificial little snow-storms.

The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which last deposit had been ploughed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and wagons; furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off; and made intricate channels, hard to trace, in the thick yellow mud and icy water. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing way to their dear hearts’ content. There was nothing very cheerful in the climate of the town, and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavoured to diffuse in vain.

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to the Lithub Daily

November 12, 2024.

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Word lists, cheat sheets, and sometimes irreverent reviews of writing rules. kathy steinemann is the author of the writer's lexicon series..

1000+ Ways to Describe Snow Part 1: A Word List for Writers

Snow: Supernatural?

“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?” ~ J. B. Priestly

Where is enchantment to be found? In stories, and some of those stories may become even more enchanting with the inclusion of snow.

Today’s post is the first of two that offer ways to incorporate snow in creative writing.

See also 1000+ Ways to Describe Snow Part 2 .

Adjectives to Describe Snow

Adjectives are often the first resource exploited by writers. As you experiment with words in this section, heed opinion adjectives and stacked modifiers .

A abominable, abundant, accumulated, advancing, ageless, airborne, alpine, ankle-deep, appalling, approaching, arctic, artificial, autumnal

B bad, barren, beautiful , belated, belly-deep, billowed, billowing, biting, blasted, bleak, blinding, bloodstained, bonnie, bottomless, bright, brittle, bumpy, bygone

C changeless, chaotic, cheerless, chest-deep, chilling, choppy, clammy, clean, cloud-soft, cohesive, cold, compacted, compressed, concealing, congealed, constant, continuous, cottony, crisp, cruel, crumbly, crunchy, crusted, crusty, crystalline, cushiony

D and E damp, dazzling, deathly, deep, dense, desolate, dingy, dirty, distant, domed, downy, dreaded, dreary, drifting, dry, dusty, dwindling, early, elusive, encircling, encrusted, endless, enveloping, ephemeral, eternal, evanescent, everlasting, evil, extraordinary

F fake, fallen, falling, faux, feathery, featureless, fierce, filmy, filthy, fine, firm, flaky, fleecy, flinty, flocculent, floury, fluffy, flying, foamy, foggy, forbidding, forecasted, formidable, frequent, fresh, friable, frigid, frothy, fun, furious, furrowed

G gentle, ghostly, glacial, glaring, glassy, glazed, gleaming, glinting, glistening, glistering, glittering, gorgeous, gory, grainy, granular, granulated, gravely, grimy, gritty, groomed, grubby, gummy, gusting

H and I half-melted, hard, hardened, hated, heavy, high, hip-high, honeycombed, icy, immaculate, immeasurable, impassable, impending, implacable, incessant, indefatigable, inevitable, infernal, inhospitable, interminable, intermittent, inviting, iridescent

J to L jewel studded, knee -deep, lacy, lasting, late, layered, leaden, leftover, light, limitless, liquefied, looming, loose, lovely, low-lying, luminous, lumpy, lustrous

M to O magnificent, majestic, matted, mealy, measurable, melted, melting, merciless, miserable, moderate, moist, moonlit, muddied, muddy, mushy, nasty, nearby, neck-deep, never-ending, new, numbing, occasional, old, omnipresent, oncoming, orographic, overlying, overnight

P to R packed, patchy, pathless, pelting, penetrating, perennial, permanent, perpetual, persistent, phosphorescent, pillow-soft, pillowy, pitiless, plastic, plentiful, plowed, polluted, porous, powdered, powdery, pretty, pristine, prolonged, puffy, punctual, pure, raging, rain-saturated, receding, reflecting, refreshing, relentless, reliable, remaining, ridged, rimed, rippled, ruthless, rutted

Sa to Sm salty, sandy, savage, scant, scattered, sculpted, seamless, seasonal, seeping, semipermanent, serene, shadowy, shallow, sheeted, shifting, shiny, silent, silken, simulated, skiable, sleety, slick, slimy, slippery, sloshy, sludgy, smooth, smothering

So to Su soaked, sodden, soft, softening, soggy, soiled, solidified, soppy, sparkling, sparkly, sparse, spectral, spongy, spotless, spotty, spring, squeaky, star-studded, starlit, sticky, stifling, stinging, streaming, strong, sudden, sugary, summer, sun-kissed, sunless, sunlit, superincumbent, surrounding

T tempestuous, terrible, terrific, textured , thawing, thick, thin, threatening, toxic, track-filled, trackless, trampled, treacherous, twilit

U ubiquitous, unblemished, unbroken, uncleared, undisturbed, unending, uneven, unexpected, ungroomed, uninterrupted, uninviting, unmarked, unmarred, unpacked, unplowed, unpolluted, unpredictable, unpredicted, unrelenting, unseasonal, unspoiled, unstable, unstained, unsullied, unswept, untimely, untouched, untracked, unwelcome, unyielding

V to Y velvety, vengeful, violent, virgin, waterlogged, watery, waxy, well-trampled, wet, whispering, wild, windblown, wind-driven, windswept, winter, wispy, wondrous, wooly, year-round, yielding

Snow Similes and Metaphors

Sometimes a figure of speech adds the perfect touch. Be careful not to overdo, though. Provide enough imagery to stimulate the imagination, but not so much that you slow action or bore readers.

Watch everything and everyone around you. Pay attention to visual media, and note phrasing in books. Your scrutiny will inspire new ideas.

Here are a few phrases to stimulate your creativity.

a blanket of melancholy
a carpet of cotton batting
a colorless shroud
a crispy meringue tipped with brown
a fluffy featherbed
a garden of ice
a lacy tablecloth with flowers and grass peeping through
a landscape frosted with sweet whiteness
a serial killer, silent, stalking, waiting to thrust its cold knife into the countryside
a wooly white duvet
an avalanche of icy death
an onslaught of white, blinding and freezing
as cold as someone’s icy heart
as inevitable as polar nights
as quiet and soft as an angel’s wings
as rare as ice cubes in Hell
as sparse as the hair on someone’s balding skull
as welcome as rain at a summer barbeque
as white as someone’s lies
cookie-sized confetti
dirty lather soaping the city
disappearing as quickly as dew in the desert
feathers of white creating a downy nest in every hollow
fluttering white moths kissing noses and chins
muddy and slushy snow-gravy
powdered gems sparkling in the sun
soft as a lover’s kiss
sparkling gems floating onto flower and face
stardust sprinkling over a Milky Way of upturned faces
white concrete
white waves rippling over the fields

The Colors of Snow

Snow is often multicolored. Shadows, foreign substances, variable lighting, and other conditions change its tint. It might be shadow-dappled, blue-spattered, mud-stained, or smoke-streaked, for example.

Consider the following ten phrases as a foundation for creating multicolored descriptions of snow.

[insert color or colorful object]-dappled
[insert color or colorful object]-dotted
[insert color or colorful object]-flecked
[insert color or colorful object]-pocked
[insert color or colorful object]-spattered
[insert color or colorful object]-splattered
[insert color or colorful object]-spotted
[insert color or colorful object]-stained
[insert color or colorful object]-stippled
[insert color or colorful object]-streaked

If you need a single color, try one of the following.

A to M ashen, black, bloody, blue green, bluish, brown, brownish, candy-colored [due to algae growth], cement grey, crimson, down grey, empurpled, filthy grey, glare white, golden, green, grey, greyish, gritty grey, hoary (greyish white), mauve

O to Y off color, orange, pallid, pearlescent, pearly, pink, purple, red [from iron oxide], red with blood, roseate, rosy, ruddy, sidewalk grey, silver, silvery, sooty, watermelon pink [due to algae growth], white, yellow, yellowish

See also 1000+ Ways to Describe Colors .

Snow Scents

Although snow is frozen water and shouldn’t have an inherent smell, most people and animals can detect a snowstorm before it hits. Their noses respond to a number of factors, including the increase in humidity.

Characters will experience different olfactory stimuli depending on location and time period. A visitor to Disneyland could smell cinnamon from churros (What? Snow in Disneyland? Story fodder.) But a resident of the 1800s might smell coal fires.

If someone claims that snow smells like apple pie, they’re likely standing next to a bakery or Grandma’s cooling shelf.

The colder the temperature, the more subdued the scent of air. But snow still absorbs scents from the environment, especially when partially melted.

I have seen adjectives like the following used by writers when describing the scent of snow: fresh, fragrant, humid, odorous, perfumed, and stagnant.

However, English provides a myriad of words to choose from. Snow might smell like, reek of, or be redolent with the scent of:

A to D algae, almonds (cyanide), apple pie, bacon, a bakery, a barbeque, a barn, blood, booze, burning [leaves, plastic, rubber], brushfires, a busy highway, campfires, Christmas, cinnamon, clean laundry, coal fires, coffee, compost, decaying [fill in the blank], diesel, dirt, dog poop

E to M exhaust fumes, fire, fir trees, a forest, fresh laundry, gasoline, ghetto, gingerbread, Grandma’s kitchen, gunpowder, horse manure, incense, iron, jasmine, kitty litter, landfill, the mountains, mud, musk ox, musty leaves

O to W an oil refinery, an outhouse, ozone, peppermint, pig manure, pine trees, a polecat, pollution, a pulp mill, roasting [chicken, pork, turkey], rotten cabbage, sewer, skunk, smog, spruce trees, sulfur, Thanksgiving, vomit, warming cars, wastewater treatment plant, wet grass, woodsmoke, wolf, wolverine

Snow: So Much More Than Freezing Water

“We love the sight of the brown and ruddy earth; it is the color of life, while a snow-covered plain is the face of death. Yet snow is but the mask of the life-giving rain; it, too, is the friend of man, the tender, sculpturesque, immaculate, warming, fertilizing snow.” ~ John Burroughs

Does Your WIP Include Snow?

If your story unfolds in a desert, you could generate intrigue with the addition of wintry precipitation. What would cause snowflakes in the middle of the Sahara? Why would an SUV have ice encrusted on its undercarriage?

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10 thoughts on “ 1000+ Ways to Describe Snow Part 1: A Word List for Writers ”

I am writing a book based on a cold forest and I was really in search of some good metaphors and vocab which could elevate that particular part of the book and I think this page has really helped me a lot. Thank you so much, the selection of words and phrases is quiet unique here.

I’m so glad this post was helpful for you, Biren, and good luck with your book!

This is wonderful. Thanks so much.

Thanks for stopping by, Lori. Good luck with your writing!

Hello. I am writing a murder mystery that takes place in the Rocky Mountains. I live in ice and snow during the winter, and so appreciate this list of snow metaphors and descriptors!

My pleasure, Donna. Good luck with your murder mystery. Now is the perfect time of year to see, feel, hear, taste, and smell snow and ice — especially in the Rocky Mountains.

Kathy—This is just wonderful! You’ve demonstrated—with examples—the richness of associations a gifted writer can bring to her work.

Your post brings to mind Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Danish author, Peter Høeg. Have you read it? The flinty, intelligent heroine is from Greenland and part Eskimo. She is a deeply knowledgable about the properties of snow and uses that knowledge to solve a murder and ultimately expose a conspiracy to steal Greenland’s vast mineral riches. One of the first Scandi noir novels, it was also made into quite a good movie starring Julia Ormond and Gabriel Byrne.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385315147/

Thanks, Ruth. I hadn’t heard about the book until now. Sounds intriguing. The link you gave went to a page that shows it as unavailable for purchase, so I tracked it down and took the liberty of modifying the URL. Smilla’s Sense of Snow is now on my Amazon wish list.

I appreciate the heads-up!

Kathy – I always look forward to these wonderful descriptions for just about everything! When I get the emails that say “100 Ways to Describe…”, I always leap on top of it and open the web page up and save it to my bookmarks!!! I’m currently writing a book and your works help me in so many ways and you, as an Author, have inspired me to keep writing! Thank you for all that you do! You are AMAZING!

Thank you, and Have a wonderful Holiday! Rebecca Kroll

PS: I have both of your Lexicon books! I wish there were more!

Thanks, Rebecca. What a wonderful way to start my day — even better than coffee. Good luck with your writing, and you have a wonderful holiday too!

P.S. I’m working on The Writer’s Body Lexicon . It’ll be out early next year.

Comments are closed.