There are remarkable differences in the mechanisms between the ocean-effect snow and other types of snow inland. The ocean-effect snow occurs over the middle and eastern Bohai Sea, Bohai Strait, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the coast in China, which is the most notable in Yantai and Weihai of Shandong Peninsula. To deepen the understanding of the ocean-effect snow in China, the main research progress in the past decade is briefly reviewed, including distribution characteristics in varied coastal areas, the multiscale interaction of the ocean-effect snowstorm over the Bohai Sea and the topographic influences on it, research data and methods, and the verification of numerical forecast products. Finally, the research development tendency is prospected based on the current operational forecasting difficulties and inadequate research.