Early winter snowfall taps against lingering autumn leaves, creating a soft, steady white-noise soundscape.

This recording is subtle and calming. If you’ve never experienced Michigan, we’re lucky to have all four seasons and a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees. Most years, the leaves are long gone by the time the first real snow arrives—but this year was different.

An early snowfall came before the trees had fully let go of their leaves. As the snow fell, tiny pellet-like flakes tapped against the dry, crispy leaves still clinging to the branches in front of my house. It created a sound I don’t often hear: soft, rhythmic, and almost like natural white noise.

The snow falls steadily, the leaves barely move, and the entire scene feels hushed and intimate, as if winter and autumn briefly overlapped. 

This session was recorded using a Sennheiser shotgun microphone paired with a Zoom F3 digital recorder. 

This is Outdoor Sounds.