Snow is mostly air. Fresh snow is about 10 times more voluminous than water for the same mass, so 10 times lighter for the same volume. (This is mostly due to air, ice is slightly less dense than water, but by a relatively small percentage, not 10 times).
When snow partially melts or receives water, the water replaces some of the air and makes it denser. Snow will also get denser if you compact it, though not as much as if you had water because you won’t compact enough to remove most of the air.
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