Mother Nature's recipe for snow production is quite complex. You need temperatures that are not too warm and not too cold--somewhere between -12° and -16° Celsius at an altitude of 10-18,000 feet. Into that cold air there must be moisture and upward vertical motion. When all the parameters are in proper alignment dendritic ice crystals form to get the show started. Oh heck--who wants to wait for Mother Nature? As long as it's cold enough make your own!

There is no shortage of snowmaking recipes on the web. I thought I'd dwell a little on SNOWatHOME because though they sell home snowmaking equipment they also give away free plans so you can build your own.

The four parameters involved in snowmaking are temperature, evaporation (measured with humidity), surface area (size of the pre-snow water droplets) and additional cooling using compressed air through the Joule-Thomson Effect. The farther you push those four parameters the more snow a gallon of water will produce. Three of the four can be helped along just by the using a snow gun.

The chart above is the snowmaking potential at my house tonight. I'm not sure how thrilled I am to hear I'm in prime territory at the moment.

SNOWatHOME's has kits which will produce "50'x25' in 6" of snow in 8 hours." That's great, but we're talking thousands of dollars meaning it's out of most backyard budgets. There are other more modest setups between $4-500 which "easily cover a 50'x20' yard in 6" of snow in 8 hours!" Home built solutions are a whole lot cheaper.

With some Home Depot hardware, a power washer compressor and time to let the gun run you can make a fairly substantial pile of fluff. If you're really craving snow but you're teased with cold temperatures and little else here's your opportunity to go a little nuts.

Please do not bury the neighbor's dog. Please.