How do solar panels work when it is cloudy or snowy?

As you may know, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels work by absorbing the sun's energy throughout the day and converting it into direct current (DC)electricity, then the DC electricity passes through an inverter to convert it to usable AC electricity. So, the amount of power which your solar energy system can generate depends on sunlight.

Here comes the question--Do the solar panels produce power when there is no sunshine?

Actually, your solar panels will produce slightly less energy when it's cloudy or rainy. But if at night, or your panels are covered with snow, they cannot produce power. However, snow generally isn’t heavy enough to cause structural issues with your panels, and since most panels are tilted at an angle, the snow will slide off. If snow does accumulate, your panels are easy to clean. Anyway, at this circumstance, a storage battery is very necessary.