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xa-snow

xa-snow is a standalone plugin by hotbso that overlays real-world snow coverage on X-Plane 12 scenery. It downloads accumulated snow depth data from NOAA and applies it to the simulation in real time.

Background

  • Developer: hotbso (Holger Teutsch), originally by zodiac1214
  • Repository: github.com/hotbso/xa-snow (open source, GPL-3.0; libspng component BSD-2-Clause)
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux (native binaries)
  • Compatibility: X-Plane 12

xa-snow replaces X-Plane's uniform regional snow with location-specific coverage based on actual weather data. The plugin is actively maintained with regular releases.

Features

  • NOAA snow data: Downloads 6-hour accumulated snow depth forecasts covering the entire globe
  • Spatial interpolation: Overcomes X-Plane's limitation of uniform regional snow coverage at 0.25° lat/lon resolution
  • Shoreline handling: Extrapolates inland snow to coastlines that NOAA's IR imagery misses, with optional temperature correction that melts extended coastal snow when ground temperature is high
  • Historical snow: Optionally loads archived snow data for a past date, set before starting the flight — the archive covers roughly a year but has gaps
  • Auto update: Optionally refreshes snow depth data during long flights — resource-heavy and flagged upstream as potentially unstable
  • Runway friction: Adjustable runway ice behavior via "Lock Elsa Up" option (reduces runway friction in X-Plane 12.4.x+)
  • Manual weather override: Forces snow downloads even when using manual weather (default: skips download to preserve summer scenery)

Per-Scenery Configuration

Legacy (mostly XP11) sceneries show excessive snow on runways and taxiways. Copying xa-snow.cfg-sample from the plugin directory into a scenery directory as xa-snow.cfg caps the snow depth for that airport.

Value in Flight Simulation

X-Plane's built-in snow is applied uniformly across large regions — either everything is covered or nothing is. xa-snow brings seasonal realism by showing snow where it actually exists: snow-covered Alps next to green valleys, realistic treeline transitions, and accurate coastal snow boundaries. Combined with real weather, this creates convincing winter operations.

Installation

Download: GitHub Releases

Extract the ZIP file to Resources/plugins/. After the initial installation, SkunkCrafts Updater handles automatic updates (PROD or BETA channel).

Linux Notes

The Linux binary links against libcurl-gnutls.so.4 for better compatibility with Steam/Proton environments. On Debian Trixie and later:

sudo apt install libcurl3t64-gnutls

No other Linux-specific issues are known.

Sources