Snow Fence

Big piles of snow: inconvenience or death hazard? Well, both really. Blowing snow can get onto roads and property that could lead to a ton of shoveling, or at worst an auto accident or a snowing in of a log cabin or a home.

How Does A Snow Fence Work?
Luckily there is a safe and easy way to divert the flow of snow that uses simple physics. No chemicals, no contractors and absolutely no shovels. Snow fences are extremely easy to install and you can use just about any material you want, as long as it is sturdy enough to stand up to the elements in your area.

How a snow fence works is remarkably simple. Whenever the wind blows over a fence or wall, it forms an eddy current behind that wall.

An eddy current is a rolling wind current that flows downward and back to the back side of the fence. Therefore it causes fast and slow places to develop in the wind. It makes a drift form in front of the fence on the windward side.

This process empties most of the air of snow before it can cross road. It also fascilitates fast air to form, as it is drawn downward, a little farther away so that it blows the snow away from that entire area.

The snow fence relies on the fact that the wind that deposits the material you want to control directly in the path of the other snow you want to control, thus reinforing the barrier.

In Canada, the winter snows blow mostly from one direction, west. So it is easy to predict where to build the snow fence. While in the winter we all know that it seems like snow flies in every direction, it will only bring in small particles. Any other snow accumulation is inconsequential.

Snow fences really don’t stop snow from blowing across the road or on top of your home, they simply pile it along-side and like a leaf blower they blow any snow off the road.

Hopefully this can help you understand the function of a snow fence. This is quite similar to the building of groins or jetties along the sea coast to control the deposition of sand on beaches and harbors.

Need more information on snow fences? Visit our Fence forum and get answers from other do-it-yourselfers!