The deformation produced by a
block resting on a snow-covered surface is different, depending on the
surface area of the face on which it is resting. The greater the
surface the lesser the pressure.
Pressure measures the "sharing out"
of a force over a surface area. It is defined as the "force applied
perpendicularly on each unit of surface area". It is obtained by
dividing the perpendicular force F by the surface area S of a
block. Pressure is a scalar magnitude, it is not a vector
like forces.