means A storm in which large amounts of snow fall, usually driven by strong winds that reduce visibility and pile up drifts.

from A plain compound of two old Germanic words. 'Snow' descends from Old English 'snāw', a cousin of German 'Schnee' and Dutch 'sneeuw', all tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root for snow that also surfaces in Latin 'nix' and Greek 'niphas'. 'Storm' comes from Old English 'storm', kin to German 'Sturm', likely born from a root meaning to stir up or rush. Bolted together, the word does exactly what it says: snow that storms.