Needs video of it in action. And build instructions.

That kid is my hero.

We all need one for Christmas morning.

I saw this on CNN over the weekend. Apparently it does like three feet of snow over their backyard overnight.

This is the face of Americas technology future. Way to go kid. Now lets study gravity and motion...where is my sled?

Brian should have swung by my house last weekend - the Uber-Mom's trucked snow in "for the children" and it sat there for almost a week. (it was cold in SF)

fake!

... jk

Wow that kid is smart.
he should get a prize for buildinq something like that
now im sure he's goin2 be the cool kid in school.
I'd charge people to come into my backyard to play in the snow lolz.

The image of him tobogganing on the ice cube covered grass from the CNN video report on him is so awesome!

:-)

-Scott

That's just... amazing. I wish my mom would have let me build a snow machine in the back yard when I was a kid.

All he has to do now is re-invent his mother as somebody who does not talk like a dumbass.

A climactic event?! Wow! Snow and orgasms go so good together!!!

(P.S. I think it's "climatic")

He should have waited until they left for the weekend before turning it on. It would have been a real Calvin moment if they came home to 30 feet of snow.

...nice work Forest!

forest is awesome

Everyone's thinkin it, I'll just say it. Will it blend?

@Pope John Peeps II: For a second I thought his mom was the hot one and the dumpy one was the reporter.

Wait! Did this kid just stop global warming? Wow!
I don't think that would fly around here, not enough water. But, there is a guy around the corner who makes his own snow for a snowboarding hill. Bastard wasting water.

where can i get those "spray noozles"??

See, I was a military brat growing up. Damn MP's put kids in the brig for stuff like this.

My snow mountain kid beat up your honor student.

I saw something just like this about a year ago on HGTV where a guy built the exact same thing, air compressor, PVC piping, and spray nosels, for his kids. He said that it only worked when the temp. was around 20 - 25 f. Any colder the whole thing would freeze up and any warmer the snow wouldn't form.

"molecular process?" "a climatic event?" give me a friggin' break. the mother is a retard.
and he wants to double the capacity next year to get 6' of snow in a night instead of 3'. what, two nights is too long to wait?? does he need 30' of snow or what?
don't get me wrong, this is definitely cool. i just think it's being blown a little bit out of proportion.

so is he making snow or just reducing the water droplets small enough for the outside temp. to freeze? good job none the less

Now he needs somebody to donate 150 gallons of Cherry Syrup for the worlds larget snowcone.

Sled, Forest! Sled!

@HoseHead: sure, but let me put it in another way: WTF were you doing age 10? I can't see "BUILD TELEPORTER" or "FIRED ROCKET INTO MOON ORBIT" in your about page.

I think it's pretty cool that a 10-yo kid gets to play with this kind of gear and builds this. I don't care if it's water droplets frozen by outside temperature. It works and he did it in his backyard. He may not end at the MIT, but sure he has more possibilities than his fellow 10-yo playing WOW all day long or watching Cartman playing WOW all day long.

Go Forest!!
-Now where's Hobbes?

@aphex242: Yeah, I saw it there as well. I must say that that kid is one cool 10 year old.

Good job kid!! keep up the good work! Now I want to make one.

@Jesus Diaz: HoseHead is the Gizmodo equivalent of the old guy yelling "GET OFF MY LAWN"

Just soze ya know. My friend's ten year old did this with his buddies two years ago. Unfortunately, those kids didn't have the same media agent that this one has. Best part is that the kids I know went to a school that specializes in learning disabilities. Disability my arse.

@Jesus Diaz:

Geez, you'd think it was your kid or something.

@llryuujinll:

Yeah it creates a fine mist, so it's more of a mist machine put to very intelligent use. If im not mistaken true snow machines just make a bunch of ice, grind it up and spray it all over the place. This, however, is much cheaper. But it does seem kind of silly, since it will only work in places it's likely to snow anyways. BUT mad props to the kid.

And for the record, I was walking a mile and a half through the woods to the neighbors house daily to shovel their horse shit for peanuts when I was 10 so i could buy fireworks, disassemble them and make things that really blew shit up.

@Jordan Golson: No, I think startoestudio is.

"Hey kid, got a permit for that equipment?"
"Here's your electric and water bill, Mrs. Pearson"
"Another complaint from the old man next door!"
"Homeowner's and health insurance just went up in the neighborhood!"

No way Benny. I want all of them to come over to my house and set them up on my lawn. The more the better.

@johncon3:

You made Gatorade come out my nose! I've got to stop reading comments while eating lunch or IT is gonna kill me.

@nutbastard

I work on a ski hill. The only difference between what this kid did and a "real" snow machine is the lack of a fan.

This is exactly how an on-hill snow machine works. The dirrence is that on the hill, they blow th mist through a fan so it will cover a huge area

@johncon3: BEST comment here!

Nay-sayers: he's a kid and what he did is fantastic. Hell, most adults couldn't pull this off. So mom ain't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, she's smart enough to know she's got a smart kid and let's him use his brains and play. That makes her a winner. (On the other hand, I do hope she keeps an active eye on him when he's being creative. He could get into dangerous stuff.)

@llryuujinll: Are you saying that you're not as smart as a ten year old?

Wow, look! Some kid printed some plans off the internet
. Whoopee-doo.

[www.snowathome.com]

Wow, that kid's awesome. I want perma-snow in my backyard!

@nutbastard: Now machines actually do the exact same thing this kid is. There's 2 kinds you'll see on the slopes. There's the snow guns, which are long poles with 4 sprayers at the end, and there's the really big ones, that have a giant fan with a ring of sprayers at the end. Both obviously pump out an incredible amount more of snow than this kids (ie. 12-15ft in one night) but you gotta hand it to this kid's brilliance getting it all to work.

What i wanna know is how the hell do they sleep with that huge compressor going all night?

Forest: "Dad, can you move the air compressor and pressure washer to the back yard, loan me your credit card so I can buy $54 worth of stainless steel aerator nozzles off the internet, tell me where the drill and hacksaw are, buy me a bunch of pneumatic hose and 1/8" NPT threaded fittings and couplers?"

Dad: "Sure."

Right.

I'm not sure that it was "built ... from scratch". Rather, he probably constructed it with the aid of instructions. I suspect that the parts are all 'off the shelf'. The nozzles and connectors from air compressor and pressure washer can be brought ready made (e.g. www.snow-maker.com). I suppose it is quite impressive that he assembled the equipment together; but it isn't hugely impressive. However, I would be very impressed if he designed the nozzles himself and got them fabricated, prob cost more than 500USD though! Still it's a cool idea, and he seems to have the determination to save up for the equipment over a few years: that is the more impressive aspect of this task... not really the science or engineering!

Mom always said "Life is like a molecular process."

@nutbastard:

True snowmakers at ski resorts use the exact same principle on a much larger scale. Reservoir ponds hold water that is pumped into a pumphouse where industrial compressors force the water into an infrastructure of pipe laid out across the mountain. Sprayers are connected to the standpipes and mix the compressed water with air and spray it onto the trails. Some resorts use an additive in the water to help make snow at higher temperatures. Some of the new equipment being used also allows the spray heads to be mounted on a snowcat or groomer to specifically direct the snow, such as in the case of developing a terrain park's various features. Here's an example: www.lenkosnow.com

"Welcome to Pacific Tech's "Smart People on Ice."