I don't know how much more clearly I can say that if I were there I would have been terrified.
But there are many people who could determine what is and is not dry snow. If that happened to be a teetotal Russian, I would not bet against him/her.
I'm just pointing out that local knowledge is valuable, and the test of 'reasonable' might hang upon that.
So many laws are open to driving the proverbial coach and horses through. This seems to be one of them.