Wiktionary
n. An accumulation of packed snow, usually the seasonal amount.
Wikipedia
Snowpack forms from layers of snow that accumulate in geographic regions and high altitudes where the climate includes cold weather for extended periods during the year. Snowpacks are an important water resource that feed streams and rivers as they melt. Therefore, snowpacks are both the drinking water source for many communities and a potential source of flooding (in case of sudden melting). Snowpacks also contribute mass to glaciers in their accumulation zone.
Assessing the formation and stability of snowpacks is important in the study and prediction of avalanches. Scientists study the physical properties of snow under different conditions and their evolution, and more specifically snow metamorphism, snow hydrology (that is, the contribution of snow melt to catchment hydrology), the evolution of snow cover with climate change and its effect on the ice-albedo feedback and hydrology. Snow is also studied in a more global context of impact on animal habitats and plant succession. An important effort is put into snow classification, both as an hydrometeor and on the ground.
Usage examples of "snowpack".
She wanted to dive beneath the snowpack and burrow to some sort of safety.
It felt very good, and the snowpack the young man had made for his head was finally doing something about the throbbing in his temples.
Since the river fed off the mountain snowpack, he was chilled deep by the time they scrambled onto the grassy bank at the far side.
Haguefort than the thin snowpack crusting the fields and rolling hills.
Ziranne followed behind, kicking loose whatever snowpack was left with the heel of one thick-soled boot.
The ice was old, he decided, probably old snowpack left from last winter.
In consequence, it receives 246 inches of snow a year and snowpacks of twenty feet.