Snowfall

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

Snowfall is a temporary, biome-specific occurrence that replaces rain in snowy biomes. It only occurs above a certain height in cold biomes like windswept hills and taigas. Snowfall also occurs in 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 dimensions than the Overworld.

Below are the 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.

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 thunderstorms, which keep the effects from both weather types, although lightning does not occur.

Snowstorms darken the world, causing the light from the 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. In Java Edition, the sky darkens in all biomes with different colors (see Sky § Colors for a full list). In Bedrock Edition, the sky or atmospherics turn to
 rgb(103, 103, 103) in all biomes, except dry biomes with Vibrant Visuals. Fog grows in density, decreasing view distance by 30%, and is colored in classic graphics
 #666666 (
 #403C44 in pale gardens).

Celestial bodies (the sun, moon, and stars) are no longer visible.^[3] In Bedrock Edition, the sun and moon are still visible in biomes with no precipitation, but stars aren't. Clouds darken from white to gray (95%
 rgb(191, 191, 191) 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,‌^{[JE only]} or mie scattering with Vibrant Visuals.

In Bedrock Edition, all 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.

When it snows, snow layers regenerate over all blocks with a solid top surface at integer y-values.^[4] In Bedrock Edition, these snow layers naturally accumulate over time, with each biome having its own value determining how fast snow accumulates, with a maximum of the level of a full block (8 layers). In Java Edition, snowfall creates one layer of snow by default, and the number of layers that can accumulate can be altered by the game rule max_snow_accumulation_height; setting it to 0 makes no snow form at all, and setting it to 8 or above lets snow form up to the level of a full block. Snow can also generate snowlogged in certain types of vegetation in Bedrock Edition.

Falling snowflake particle effects are visible through the air over all cold regions during snowfall. Unlike with rain, any entities that are on fire are not extinguished on contact with snow. In Java Edition, snowflakes fall in the two middle lines of a block; they do not visibly fall directly onto the player. In Bedrock Edition, 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.

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

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

Issues relating to "Snowfall" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

• 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.^[5]
• 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

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