this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
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It's effectively just sun burn in your eye. As of you were arc welding without goggles.
I've long had a pair of ski goggles/ sun glasses to avoid this because as you describe it sounds like total hell.
The weirdest time I had snow blindness was in the early spring when I was about ten years old. Dad was taking us out for a ride and told us to get our sunglasses. I was a dumb kid and ignored him. Outside it was slightly overcast with a hazy kind of cloud cover, just enough to let a bit of sun through. The light was completely diffused everywhere .... not bright, not harsh but coming in all directions ... the sky, the horizon and bouncing off the snow on the ground everywhere.
I lasted a couple of hours in that ... but by the end the day, I couldn't keep my eyes open, I was so irritated. So it doesn't take bright light to go snow blind ... just constant steady bright light everywhere all the time.
uv radiation easily penetrates clouds vs visible light which is why you still need sunglasses and sunblock when it's overcast