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March 4-6 Winter Storm


snowlover2

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Still think there's a limit to how north, unless the block is weaker than it's been modeled, though there is good ensemble support for keeping it strong through the time of the event.

Yeah I would have to believe we are pretty close to our Northern limitation at this point.

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One more  :offtopic:  post, then back to the storm.

 

 

Proper measuring is checking (and clearing) the board at 7 AM, 1 PM, 7 PM, and 1 AM. That's the probable reason for the 4" Midway snowfall.

 

However, anything that falls and melts in between is not counted. Most people check as soon as the snow lets up and reports it, thus higher amounts than the 'official' measurement. That really makes ORD/Harwood Heights measurements seem strange.

 

 

A snowfall like the last one is quite rare, so it made the measuring quite tricky. That is definitely true about the measuring times. However...say you cleared the board at 1pm, and then 3 more hours of snow dropped 1.5" when the snow let up at 4pm but if you waited til 7pm (after 3 hours of no snow) and the snow had settled to 1.3". You would not have to wait til 7pm, if you are sure the snow is done at 4pm you could report then.

 

 

It's all tied to GMT synoptic hours (12z, 18z, 00z, 06z), so in CST, you measure at 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and 12am, but you're right about EST. On the second point, you're actually supposed to measure when the snow stops and not wait until the synoptic hour. You're only supposed to wait until the synoptic hour while it's still snowing, to account for compaction. Let's say it quickly snowed 1" in a very marginal temp situation after 18z and then it stopped. If you wait until 00z and the snow melted by then, it would be like the snow never fell, which is obviously incorrect.

The ORD measurement was decent for the last event, best we could tell. It was lower by a bit over an inch than CoCoRaHS reports close by in Elk Grove Village. Harwood Heights was probably wrong: IL-CK-196 : HARWOOD HEIGHTS 1.9 NNE * : 0.93 / 3.4 / MM / MM- ratios were low but not 3:1. It's a double-edged sword with snowfall measurements for the WFO's because obviously there's a right way to do measurements, but if everyone did it that way, we wouldn't know how much snow was falling real time for purposes of verifying warnings or needing to upgrade advisories to warnings.

Another point is that the measurements that are done more frequently than synoptic hours are probably a bit inflated, but on the other hand, the other measurements we rely on, from COOPs and some CoCoRaHS, are not any better, and likely underdone because other than the Midway 3SW COOP, they're only measuring and clearing the board every 24 hours (which may have been the case with Harwood Heights).

 

 

Thanks for the input. I actually knew about measuring at the end of synoptic event, but failed to post it. And yes, I was talking EST. I am a CoCoRaHS reporter, but I try to measure on the synoptic hour and when the snow is done, then add them together for my 7 AM report. However, CoCoRaHS asks you to only measure once a day. Having access to NWSChat, I usually keep IWX informed of local amounts/rates real time when warranted.

 

This discussion once again brings up how subjective measuring is and unless a measurement sounds really out of line, I just use it to give a general idea of snowfall in a particular location.

 

 

In all due respect I disagree with this.  Speaking with some hydrologists  at Mall of America during government days, the proper way way to measure snowfall on your board is to do it every 6 hrs after the start of the event to the end.  Of course if you want to record daily snowfall you should always take a measurement at midnight, but during a event, don't clean your board unless it's close to the 6hr interval.

 

 

I posted most of the conversation above. I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with. If it's about waiting until the synoptic hour after the storm ends, I corrected myself in the next post. I also addressed the problem with CoCoRaHS reporting.

 

I don't mean to :deadhorse: , but if I'm doing something wrong in my measuring, I want to correct it.

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Almost every sytem this winter season has had the northern tick to it through out the modeling process. We have all felt the pain of a potential snowy system simpilly pull the rug from under your feet at the last moment leaving you feeling cheated on. It happens to someone with every time. Even I have fallen victom many times this winter season and still enjoy watching the evolution of a storm good or bad.

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So, what is it? 

 

NWS LOT issues a Special Weather Statement regarding Tuesday for possibly 6+"

Channel 7 met this morning showing the various tracks, and saying "We aren't going to miss out on this one." ... He showed the NAM, GFS and Euro forecast tracks, each one giving us snow, although in different amounts, depending on the track. 

 

Here I am reading "Another miss north" in this thread. 

 

Kinda confused. 

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So, what is it? 

 

NWS LOT issues a Special Weather Statement regarding Tuesday for possibly 6+"

Channel 7 met this morning showing the various tracks, and saying "We aren't going to miss out on this one." ... He showed the NAM, GFS and Euro forecast tracks, each one giving us snow, although in different amounts, depending on the track. 

 

Here I am reading "Another miss north" in this thread. 

 

Kinda confused. 

 

 

The another miss to the North is the wrong one.

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