Making real snow in your backyard is an exciting adventure! Residential and small commercial snowmaking is very similar to snowmaking done at large winter resorts around the world. However, home snowmaking has a few differences, and understanding what you need to make snow is important! Let’s walk through what’s needed to make snow at your home or small commercial area:
Cold Weather (temperature and humidity)
Freezing temperatures are required for real snowflakes to form. If the temperature is too warm, the small water droplets produced through the snow gun cannot freeze to form snow. As a rule of thumb, temperatures below 28F (-2.2C) are needed to make snow. please visit our snowmaking weather chart to see what temperature and humidity will produce the best snow quality.
Designed Snow Gun
A properly build snow gun is extremely important for making real snow! Without a properly designed snow gun, you’ll be making ice NOT snow. Trust us, we know! Backyard Snowstorm offers three sizes of real snowmakers to fit any snowmaking need. Our snowmaking machines are professionally engineered and extremely easy to operate. The components and construction of our snow guns are heavy duty, and built to last for years of heavy snowmaking use. Check out our real snowmakers to see which size best fits your needs!
Air Compressor
An air compressor is used in our snowmaking system to split water droplets into nucleation sites so that snowflakes can be formed. Not sure what that means? Don’t worry! Our system is plug-and-play and works with any air compressor rated over 5 CFM @ 90 PSI. We suggest purchasing this item at a local hardware store or using a pre-owned compressor if it fits the minimum airflow requirement. For more information about how snow is formed and the nucleation process, please visit our Snowmaking Science page.
Visit our Recommended Equipment Page to see air compressor options that will work with your snow gun.
Pressure Washer (with select products)
A pressure washer is required with our Forecaster and Cold Front Snow Guns. High-pressure water is used with these snow guns to create properly sized water droplets for snowflakes to form. The size of the pressure washer will directly impact the amount of snow you can produce with both the Forecaster and Cold Front Snow Guns. Pressure washers with a higher GPM (gallons per minute) rating will produce more snow. As a general rule, a pressure washer rated at 1 GPM will produce 1″ of snow per hour. A 2 GPM pressure washer will produce 2″ of snow per hour (so on a so forth).
The Little Cloud Snow Gun does not require a pressure washer to operate and is a great option for beginner snowmakers!
For more information about the different capabilities of our snow machines please click here.
Hoses and Fittings
Hoses are needed to connect your air compressor and pressure washer (or garden hose) to your snow gun!
We offer full snowmaking packages that include hoses and fittings to make home snowmaking setup simple and easy. If you use your own hoses, check out our adapter info page to make sure you have the proper connections.