Question about snow guns

Over the past weekend I noticed numerous snow guns blasting away, which was a good thing. But I noticed a large percentage of the snow blowing off into the trees or just up into the air. I was wondering if this "loss" is unavoidable and just accepted. Can someone in the know try to explain this to me? I'm not being a critic I'm just curious to as if there is a more efficient technique to the art of snow making.

In certain conditions this is avoidable.  It can be avoided in certain cases by angling the guns different.  Also, be sure you didn't mistake the snow blowing away for the cloud created by compressed air.  It is clearly visible in these shots.

Not sure what mountain you are referencing but it doesn't really matter.

It's often more efficient to blow on a closed trail. You can point guns where they need to go without worrying about skiers.  Liftlines also present issues as you don't want to ice up chairs and cables.

The mountains want to keep as much snow as possible on the trails. Some skiers on the other hand, are good with some snow blowing off into the trees, in certain spots...

We've all probably thought this before. Sometimes it does seem wasteful. Good reply Sno and complete with pics !

Any how, interesting side note, one time  the kid and I were riding the Sunway chair. The nearest snowmaking was over on Showcase. A very unusually shaped " snow " was lightly falling, landing on our black snow pants which made it easy to see. It was shaped like a grain of rice, only smaller and skinnier. Weird.

It was at Gore, right below the new AE2.