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“Can you build on the single snowflake in this week’s starter template to create a snowstorm?” That was the prompt behind CodePen’s December 2022 snow challenge. CSS-Tricks issue 301, published December 20, 2022, gathers community examples that turn the idea into falling flakes, layered winter scenes, and explorations of snowflake shapes. It is a historical inspiration roundup, not a currently running challenge or a tested comparison of coding techniques.
What is “301: Let it Snow (Code!)”?
It is issue 301 of the CSS-Tricks newsletter, published December 20, 2022. The issue points readers to CodePen snow-code examples and invites them to use a single animated flake as a starting point for a larger winter effect. The original issue is available at CSS-Tricks: “301: Let it Snow (Code)!”; the publisher’s newsletter archive also lists the issue and date.
The central question is open-ended: make a snowstorm, illustrate a winter scene, or investigate how snowflakes are formed. CodePen’s December 2022 Week 1 Snow challenge names CSS, SVG, and JavaScript as possible creative routes. These are options to explore, not a recommendation that one approach is best.
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What kinds of snow projects does the roundup feature?
Light snowfall and layered depth
Some examples focus on a light, elegant fall of flakes; others aim to create a stronger sense of distance. Sparse flakes can keep attention on the page, while layering suggests flakes at different depths. The newsletter describes these visual directions but does not report comparative performance or test results.
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Straight falls and varied paths
A basic snowfall can animate flakes downward. Other examples make flakes travel along less predictable paths instead of following straight vertical lines. That change affects the character of the scene: a steady descent feels orderly, while varied motion can make the storm feel less uniform.
A snow overlay or a complete winter scene
One highlighted direction is a bookmarklet that applies a snow effect over a website. That is distinct from building a full scene from scratch, which the challenge also encourages. The source describes the bookmarklet’s effect, but does not establish its security, privacy, or suitability for production use.
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How can you approach the challenge?
- Start with the visual goal. Decide whether you want a few gently falling flakes, a deeper-looking storm, a decorative overlay, or an illustrated winter landscape.
- Choose what you want to explore. Use CSS animation for falling motion; use CSS or SVG to draw flakes and scene elements; or use JavaScript to generate or vary elements. The challenge page also points to CSS-animation examples, SVG or CSS snowflakes, and a Koch snowflake fractal.
- Build outward from one flake. The prompt’s starter-template idea is to extend a single flake into a larger composition. You can experiment with the number, placement, shape, and movement of flakes to match your goal.
- Compare the visual result with your intent. Check whether the flakes read as sparse or stormy, whether the scene conveys depth, and whether motion feels straight or varied. The roundup is inspiration, not a technical evaluation of the examples.
What should you take away from this issue?
“301: Let it Snow (Code)!” is useful as a menu of creative directions: animate snowfall, create depth, add an overlay, draw a winter scene, or explore snowflake geometry. Its examples are community work highlighted in a December 2022 newsletter, so treat them as inspiration rather than evidence that a particular implementation is faster, more accessible, better supported by browsers, or production-ready.
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