sugar-snow

But the snow that actually falls during April is usually only what Vermonters call "sugar-snow," -- falling in the night and just whitening the surface for an hour or two, and taking its name, not so much from its looks as from the fact that it denotes the proper weather for "sugaring," namely, cold nights and warm days.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 42, April, 1861 Various

There had just been a heavy fall of snow -- big, wet flakes which Farmer Green called "sugar-snow," though it was no sweeter than any other.

The Tale of Jolly Robin Arthur Scott Bailey 1913

The last morning a soft sugar-snow had fallen and was falling, and I drove through it down to the station in the carriage which had been given him by his wife's father when they were first married, and had been kept all those intervening years in honorable retirement for this final use.

Mark Twain, a Biography. Complete Albert Bigelow Paine 1899

The last morning a soft sugar-snow had fallen and was falling, and I drove through it down to the station in the carriage which had been given him by his wife's father when they were first married, and had been kept all those intervening years in honorable retirement for this final use.

Mark Twain, a Biography — Volume III, Part 2: 1907-1910 Albert Bigelow Paine 1899

Gradually overtaken by slumber, his flaxen head drooped, his whole lamb-like figure relaxed, and, half reclining against the ladder's foot, lay motionless, as some sugar-snow in March, which, softly stealing down over night, with its white placidity startles the brown farmer peering out from his threshold at daybreak.

The Confidence-Man 1857

Gradually overtaken by slumber, his flaxen head drooped, his whole lamb-like figure relaxed, and, half reclining against the ladder's foot, lay motionless, as some sugar-snow in March, which, softly stealing down over night, with its white placidity startles the brown farmer peering out from his threshold at daybreak.

The Confidence-Man Herman Melville 1855

I believe that a sugar-snow snowpack is one of the most challenging conditions we deal with in Colorado.

Vail Daily - Top Stories Donny Shefchik Backcountry Turns Vail, CO Colorado 2010

The last morning a soft sugar-snow had fallen and was falling, and I drove through it down to the station in the carriage which had been given him by his wife’s father when they were first married, and had been kept all those intervening years in honorable retirement for this final use.

Mark Twain: A Biography 2003