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This article is about the thin cover caused by snowfall. For the full block, see Snow Block. For the weather condition, see Snowfall. For the projectile, see Snowball.

Snow[a] is a ground cover block that is commonly caused by snowfall.

Obtaining

Breaking

Redstone Lamp melt pattern

Powered redstone lamps melting nearby snow.

Snow can be obtained using a shovel with the Silk Touch enchantment. Destroying snow with a non-silk-touch shovel yields one snowball per layer. If it is destroyed with anything other than a shovel, nothing is dropped (even if using a different Silk Touch tool). If water touches the snow, the snow yields a snowball. Snow can also be obtained by causing it to drop into an invalid block space, in which case it drops itself.‌[Bedrock Edition only] The dropped snow layer also corresponds with how many layers were in the broken snow pile.

Block Snow
Hardness 0.1
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 0.5
Wooden 0.1
Stone 0.05
Iron 0.05
Diamond 0.05
Netherite 0.05
Golden 0.05
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation

Snow naturally generates in snowy biomes – snowy tundra, ice spikes, frozen oceans, snowy taiga, frozen river and snowy beach – and in the mountains biome above y-level 90–95.

Snow generates where there is sky access atop buildings in snowy taiga villages. ‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Snow generates in multiple layers as part of many snowy tundra village structures.

Snow generates in single layers in Java Edition, and can generate in multiple layers in Bedrock Edition.

Crafting

Ingredients Crafting recipe
Snow Block

6

Post-generation

Weather

In snowy biomes or in cold biomes at varying layers, the weather can snow instead of rain. In snowy weather, snow generates on random non-transparent blocks with a block light level of 10 or less, with the exception of ice and packed ice.[more information needed]

Biome Layer
y 90–95
y 120–125
y 150–155

In Bedrock Edition, multiple snow layers are built up naturally during snowfall; in Java Edition, snowfall creates only one layer.

Snow layers do not generate if the gamerule doweathercycle has been set to false.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

Snow golems

Snow golems generate a trail of snow in snowy, cold, and some medium biomes, or any non-dry biome in Bedrock Edition.

Usage

Snow can be placed only on a solid block that is not ice. In Java Edition, snow breaks if its support block is removed. In Bedrock Edition, snow is affected by gravity and falls if it becomes unsupported, and breaks if it falls onto an unsuitable block. A player can jump up 1 block and 3 snow layers.

Cover

If the snow is on a grass block (or mycelium or podzol in Java Edition[1]) the ground cover turns white on the top and around the sides. Snow does not damage tilled and hydrated field areas – it cannot be placed on farmland. A gravity-affected block like sand or gravel does not fall if snow covers the block below it, but the gravity-affected block does replace a snow layer when falling onto it. The texture of the grass block changes to snowy when a single layer of snow is placed on top.[2][3] Thicker layers of snow causes the grass block to revert to plain dirt when the block receives a random tick, similar to regular grass when covered by an opaque block. A plain dirt block with a single layer of snow on top gains a snowy texture if grass spreads to it.

In Bedrock Edition, if leaves are topped with a layer of snow, particles of snow appear to fall through the leaves from the snow layer.

In Bedrock Edition, snow layers can occupy the same space as one-block flowers, mushrooms, and one-block ferns and grass, (however two-block tall plants do not work)[4] and can be layered and mined normally. Placing snow on already-existing plant blocks causes snow to appear around them, but placing plants into an area where there is snow removes the snow.[5]

Snow layers can be used to kill nylium, a mechanic intentionally programmed into the game by Mojang.[6]

Melting

Snow melts if there is a heat block[BE & edu only], or block light level of 12 or more. In Bedrock Edition, it also melts in dry biomes, regardless of block light or daylight level. If there are multiple layers, all layers melt at once; the snow levels do not gradually reduce in height.

Foxes

When a fox gets stuck in the snow after missing an attack on prey, it emits particles as it emerges from the snow.

Sounds

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.snow.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.00.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.snow.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.00.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.snow.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.snow.fallNone[sound 1]0.50.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.snow.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.snow1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placeddig.snow1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.snow0.350.5
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.snow0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.snow0.31.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.snow0.121.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.snow0.221.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
Snowsnowblock.minecraft.snow

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Top Snowsnow_layer78tile.snow_layer.name

Block data

See also: Data values

In Bedrock Edition, top snow uses the following data values:

DV Description
0 One layer, 2 pixels thick
1 Two layers, 4 pixels thick
2 Three layers, 6 pixels thick
3 Four layers, 8 pixels thick
4 Five layers, 10 pixels thick
5 Six layers, 12 pixels thick
6 Seven layers, 14 pixels thick
7 Eight layers, 16 pixels thick

Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

Name Default value Allowed values Description
layers11
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The number of layers thick.
Each layer adds two pixels to the block height, and each layer after the first adds two pixels to the collision box.

Bedrock Edition:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
height0x1
0x2
0x4
00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
The number of layers in addition to the bottom layer.
covered_bit0x8falsetrue
false
0
1
True if the snow is covering a plant.

History

classic
May 20, 2009Notch briefly mentioned, "Winter is an awesome idea. I can see snow and tiles slowly getting covered in a layer of snow. Also, ice on lakes. :D"
May 21, 2009Notch reveals that snow "on top of topmost tiles" was on his to-do list.
alpha
v1.0.4File:Snow JE1.png Snowfall has been added to maps only in winter mode. When creating a new save, a map has a 1/4 chance of having worldwide snowfall. When falling on exposed land, a thin snow layer is created.
v1.0.5Disturbing a snow layer by any means other than replacing it now causes a snowball to drop. This includes melting and mining snow or the block under it.
A player can now easily harvest snow by placing a block of water. By doing so, the player receives a large amount of snowballs with little effort.
v1.0.5_01Snowballs can now be harvested from snow only by using with shovels.
v1.2.0?With the removal of Winter Mode, snow can no longer regenerate.
beta
1.5Snow regeneration has now returned as part of the new weather features.[7]
Snow can now occur in arctic biomes.
Stacked snow layers have been added. However, they do not generate naturally and cannot be placed by players. Layers 1-3 have no collision, while 4-8 all have a half block collision.
1.7File:Snow JE2 BE1.png The side texture of snow has been changed.
1.8Pre-releaseSnow biomes have been temporarily removed as Notch is currently trying to improve them.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseSnow biomes have been re-added.
Snow now occurs in tundra biomes, as well as arctic biomes.
1.3.112w21aSnow has been made available in the creative inventory.
1.513w05aSnow can now be crafted and is obtainable in Survival mode.
Stacked snow layers now have correct collisions, and can be placed.
1.814w28bThe number of snowballs dropped from snow has been increased from 1-8 to 2-9, depending on thickness.
1.1317w47aThe ID of snow has been changed from snow_layer to snow.
Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 78.
Layer 1 snow now has empty collision instead of solid collision of height 0, allowing entities to once again pass through it.
1.1418w43aFile:Snow JE3 BE2.png The texture of snow has been changed.
19w03cSeven layer high snow now uses correct cullface arguments.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.0File:Snow JE2 BE1.png Added snow to the world generation.
0.8.0?Added snow to the Creative mode inventory.
0.12.1build 1Snow can now be built up to multiple layers.
Snow is now affected by gravity, so that unsupported snow layers show falling dust particles.
Snow can now be placed inside flowers, mushrooms and tall grass.
Snow is now obtained by using a shovel on it. Previously, snow was mined like any dirt-type block.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0?Snow layers can now generate in extreme hills biomes.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3File:Snow JE3 BE2.png The texture of snow has been changed.
1.16.0beta 1.15.0.51Snow now drops itself when mined with a Silk Touch shovel.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1File:Snow JE2 BE1.png Added snow.
TU54CU44 1.52 Patch 241.0.4Snow can now be placed on top of upside-down stairs.
TU69CU57 1.76 Patch 38Snow is now affected by gravity.
1.90 File:Snow JE3 BE2.png The texture of snow has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0File:Snow JE2 BE1.png Added snow.

Issues

Issues relating to "Snow", "Snow layer", or "Top snow" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

  • Snow can be stacked to a full block beside a cactus without destroying the cactus.
  • Snow layers of 2 to 7 thickness prevent hostile mobs from spawning.
  • In Spectator mode, if the player is positioned at the correct height, they can see the snowy texture of the top of the grass blocks.

Gallery

Bedrock Edition

Notes

  1. Known as Snow in Java Edition and Top Snow in Bedrock Edition.

References

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