this usage struck me as being rather unusual:
I moved deeper into the comforting gloom, along a stone walkway covered in cherry blossoms that lay like tenebrous snow in the glow of lamplights to either side. [italics mine]
- Barry Eisler, Hard Rain
"Tenebrous" meaning poorly lighted - I think of twilight - it strikes me that the parsing should be rather "tenebrous snow in the glow of lamplights", referring to the tentative glow, not the snow itself.
Sounds to me as if the term is somehow related to Tenebrae -- a choir office sung during Holy Week in which candles are progressively extinguished, leaving the church in total darkness.
Somehow I doubt the author even knew that.
well, etymyonline definitely gives a link to tenebrae:
tenebrous
"full of darkness," c.1420, from O.Fr. tenebreus (11c.), from L. tenebrosus, from tenebræ "darkness" (see temerity).
This phrase looks like an intentional "poetic" oxymoron. Snow is normally associated with blinding brightness. Fallen blossoms evoke death and decay. The combination creates (or is intended to create?) an atmosphere of gloomy suspense.
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… an intentional "poetic" oxymoron.
The word "oxymoron" used in the original sense?! 
original sense?!
The sense I had in mind is that of an apparent contradiction in terms, used as a rhetorical (here: poetic) device.
I don't think it's an oxymoron, but contrasting moods. To me, "lamp light," where it refers to outdoor lighting, brings to mind gas light, which is dim to modern eyes.
Tangentially, I saw several cherry trees in bloom in a Newark, NJ park a week or two ago.
cherry trees in bloom in a Newark, NJ park a week or two ago. !!! Good grief--I've gotten used to seeing violets in October here, but I didn't think you-all would have a "second spring" way up north there. [mutter]danged warm weather[/mutter] [grumble, grumble]
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original sense?!
The sense I had in mind is that of an apparent contradiction in terms, used as a rhetorical (here: poetic) device.
The term has come to mean any contradiction in terms, whether or not there is poetic force behind it.
I see this sentence using tenebrous in a simple simile. "Cherry blossoms...like tenebrous snow." Like dark gloomy snow in the glow of lamplights. The character is trudging through cherry blossoms that feel like the burden of "dark" snow. To me, it's not a contrast at all. The writing sets a mood for darkness, gloom, and death; all of which represent the main character of Hard Rain, John Rain.
Now, I haven't read this book yet, so I don't know what context this sentence is used in, but I did read the previous book Rainfall which is how I know about the character.
Cherry blossoms aren't usually directly symbols of melancholy, or?
In feudal Japan, the cherry blossom was a symbol appropriated by samurai warriors, because its life was brief and it fell at the height of its beauty. Samurai wanted to die in the same way at the sakura -- the cherry blossom -- at the height of their career and glory, rather than wasting away slowly in old age.
thanx to matashi and Fr. Steve -- what first seemed only *unusual to me, now seems pellucid.
and regarding the Rain series, Eisler presents the hitman Rain in quite an evocative manner; the only fault I find with his writing is his excessive, clumsy (to me) use of Japanese paired with English-ization. if he's going to use the conceit of a Japanese/American protagonist/narrator, why not stick with English for an English audience? The crossover interest must be pretty shallow, I'd think.
I agree with you about the clumsy nature of Eisler's Japanese paired with English. He's correct with what he says in Japanese, but I always felt it was unnecessary for the story.
On the crossover interest, I remember reading an article about Eisler's books being somewhat popular in Japan. However, the books they read in Japan are translated from English into Japanese.