What Is A Winter Storm?

A winter storm is a very basic meteorological event wherein the dominant forms of precipitation are types that occur solely at cold temperatures, (for instance,  snow or sleet) where ground temperatures fall low enough to permit the formation of ice (i.e. freezing rain).

The term snowstorm would be used to refer to storms in which you have large (that is, excessive) amounts of snow fall.

You will find that in certain temperate continental climates, winter storms need not be limited to a place's winter season. It could come on in late autumn or even early spring. You may find that in some very rare instances, so called winter storms have occurred in summer. At the same time keep in mind that in such cases it would necessarily have to be an extraordinarily cold summer.