Fort Mill family: ‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!’

It doesn’t snow much in South Carolina, but so what, says the Yancey family, when you can make your own?

The Yanceys, residents of the Audrey Acres subdivision, have been into DIY snow for years, even as longtime residents of Kansas City, where plenty of the real stuff falls. They’ve used it to supplement Midwestern blizzards and build epic snow forts.

“Anyone can do this,” said Dennis, wearing a head lamp on a recent cold night, as he snaked hoses from his swimming pool across the driveway to a snow-making machine with a heavy-duty air compressor in the front yard.

“You have to have the right temperature and humidity. There’s no chemistry involved – just water and compressed air.”

It’s the same technology ski resorts use to make their snow, only on a smaller scale. Water from the Yanceys’ swimming pool atomizes with air through the snowmaker.

“It’s almost steam,” said Dennis’ wife, Jenny.

Getting the temperature right is important, said Dennis, a mechanical engineer, who – no surprise – also calls himself a tinkerer. There’s a 1-degree difference between having pretty, fun, fluffy snow, and what seems like the kind South Carolina gets more often: the less fun, icy snow. Dennis monitors hour by hour forecasts to determine what time will be the best for snow making.

In Fort Mill, that means there’s a lot of nighttime snow production. Early morning can be a good time as well, he said.

Too much humidity, and the snow becomes ice. There are no flakes, but what covers the yard and tree branches in the front yard is definitely snow, enough for the couple’s son, Easton, to make snowballs or angels.

The family had hoped for a white Christmas this year, but it wasn’t possible with temperatures in the 60s and 70s during December.

“It’s best to do it when it’s 29 degrees or below – the humidity is better then,” Dennis said while making snow recently. “The ground is frozen right now, too. That helps.”

Several drivers slow down for a double-take when they see the steam-like spray flying into the air, or the blanket of white stuff on the ground. When the family made snow in December, during a cold week before Christmas, they saw someone stop and take a selfie with the snow.

Although many Fort Mill neighborhoods were blanketed with a mix of snow and sleet during a late January storm, the Yanceys’ yard was the only one covered earlier in the week.

“Oh yeah, they (the neighbors) love it,” Jenny said. “People drive by, slow down or stop.”

Easton Yancey has even considered an entrepreneurial venture with the homemade snow - putting a sign at the end of the driveway that reads, “Cheap snowman for sale. Some assembly required.”

Joking aside, Audrey Acres has a 100 percent chance of snow each winter, even if the rest of Fort Mill doesn’t see a single trace of it.

“We like the way it looks,” Dennis said. “I think we’ll build an igloo next time we do it.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Fort Mill family: ‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!’."