The NCAR–FAA snow machine: An artificial snow-generation system

Flakes of ice are produced by shaving an ice cylinder with a rotating carbide bit; the resulting artificial snow is dispersed by turbulent airflows and falls approximately 2.5 m to the bottom of the device.

The resulting fine ice shavings mimic snow in size, distribution, fall velocity, density, and liquid water equivalent (LWE) snowfall rate. The LWE snowfall rate can be controlled using either a mass balance or a precipitation gauge, which measures the snowfall accumulation over time, from which the computer derives the LWE rate. LWE snowfall rates are calculated every 6 s, and the rate the ice cylinder is fed into the carbide bit is continually adjusted to ensure that the LWE snowfall rate matches a user-selected value.