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Snowy areas commonly see snow collect between a car body and tire. There is some strange satisfaction in kicking that snow off of the car and I've been in many conversations about miscellaneous details of this particular type of snow collection. Photographic example:

Snow under tire.

But is there a word I can use to refer to this clump? I am looking for a word similar to "icicle" or "stalactite" but a bit more specific.

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    It's called 'snow' regardless of its location.
    – whoabackoff
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 18:11
  • A heap of snow?
    – None
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 18:19
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    fender's snowball?
    – hildred
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 18:48
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    @whoabackoff: Perhaps you don't live in a snowy region but we have plenty of words for specific types of snow where I live.
    – MrHen
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:29
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    @whoabackoff, maybe it's just a lack of colorful vocabulary since obviously we can call everything that floated down from the clouds as stemmed ice crystals, "snow", but you have to admit that you don't call slush "snow slush", do you? It's just slush. . .for one example.
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:49

9 Answers 9

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According to a renowned authority, in the Northeastern part of the United States accumulations as shown are called snow goblins. Other authorities call them snow cuds or snow boogers.

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I just posted my own question about the term we use. I can't believe I missed your question! In New England (in Maine anyway), we call these snow goblins.

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This isn't a very fun answer, but if you're in this situation—already talking about all this snow—you could call it "buildup" or "wheel well buildup".

This strikes me as the type of lingo mechanics use when they say something like, "You've got residue buildup in your cylinder head" or "there's a lot of corrosion buildup on your battery terminal. Better brush 'em off."

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  • Yeah. That's build-up alright!
    – David M
    Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 15:28
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I doubt this has any official acceptance, but in the US Midwest where it is snowy already, "tire sludge" would probably be understood. I've already seen numerous chunks of tire sludge on the road and in driveways.

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  • Yeah, "sludge" sounds relevant. Although I typically think of sludge as the crap left on the road after it was mashed up and mixed with dirt/mud. It's that nasty, brown, sloshy stuff.
    – MrHen
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:30
  • @MrHen, yeah, I think of that stuff as sludge or just dirty slush. I think you need the word "chunk" in there to get the picture.
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Dec 18, 2013 at 19:35
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I believe you are looking for the word to describe the mixture of snow and dirt. This type of snow can be found in wheel wells, the sides of plowed roads, and in parking lots (please note that this snow may be found in an abundance of locations not limited to the ones listed here)

This type of snow is called Snirt.

Etymology 1

Blend of snow and dirt

Noun

snirt (uncountable)

  1. (US) Snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed.

wiktionary

official snirt website

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  • so to be more specific "fender snirt"?
    – hildred
    Commented Dec 19, 2013 at 5:20
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    A relative of snirt is snice -- snow and ice thrown by the snow plow into a wall at the bottom of one's driveway.
    – user65255
    Commented Feb 9, 2014 at 23:40
  • And that explains "snow booger" in the answer above.
    – Canis Lupus
    Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 15:47
  • And it's one of 50 catalogued words describing types of snow. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_snow#On_the_ground
    – Canis Lupus
    Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 15:51
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My husband generally calls them clunkers, while I refer to them as goobers. This usage is common in Northern Indiana, but may not be common elsewhere.

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We are from Buffalo and my husband calls them clunkers. Because of the noise they make when they fall up the tire.

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When I visited Minnesota, they were referred to as "crudsicles". I do not know if the spelling was "crudsicle" or "crudcicle". I assume that the word was derived from "crud" + "icicle", not "crud" + "cycle".

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In Minnesota, this build-up is sometimes called a Shark tooth.

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