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More words for snow!
I've long felt that, as Chicagoans, we should have far more terms for different kinds of frozen precipitation than we do. Naturally I have some suggestions. I've been using these informally and would love to see them in wider use:
- Champ--Compacted snow, particularly on a paved surface. It typically results when a light snowfall (2" or less) is subjected to heavy foot traffic before it can be cleared. Champ can't be shoveled or blown, it must be scraped. Fortunately it is generally quite easy to walk on unless it melts and refreezes as ice.
- Churn--Dirty snow with consistency of sand. It is typically the result of heavy foot traffic through a heavier snowfall than that which produces champ. It is intermediate in colour and consistency between loose snow and slush, being off-white to light grey and not as wet and clingy as slush. Its sandlike consistency makes it difficult to walk through.
- Névé--A term borrowed from glaciology for snow which has been compacted due to partial melting, compaction, and refreezing.
- Snirt--A mix of ice, soot, and other forms of road filth that develops from roadside névé. In colour it can range from dark grey to black, is sometimes hard to recognise due to an accumulation of trash and duff on its surface, and can persist into the first few days of spring.
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*nods appreciatively*