In which order does Snowflake determine the default warehouse for a session?

• A. default for USER OVERRIDEN BY
• B. default in config file for client utility OVERRIDEN BY
• C. default WH specified in client command line or through driver/connector parameters passed to snowflake
• D. default session timezone

Answer: (C)

When a session starts, Snowflake uses the value provided by the client as the first place to determine the warehouse. If you pass a warehouse on the client side—either via the command line or through the driver/connector parameters—that explicit setting becomes the session’s warehouse. This takes precedence over any defaults that might exist in a client config file or at the user level.

In other words, the most direct instruction for that session is the warehouse specified in the connection parameters, so that choice will be used even if a config-file default or a user-level default exists. If no warehouse is provided at connect time, Snowflake would fall back to whatever defaults are configured elsewhere, but those are not as authoritative as the direct connection parameter. The session timezone setting is unrelated to selecting the warehouse.