Snowflake automatically maintains previous versions of data when tables are modified or deleted. For tables with high churn—meaning frequent INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or MERGE operations—this can cause a significant buildup of historical snapshot data, even if the active data size remains small.

This hidden accumulation leads to elevated storage costs, particularly when Time Travel retention periods are long and data change rates are high. Often, teams are unaware of how much snapshot data is being stored behind the scenes.