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12/10 Winter Weather Observations


WeatherFox

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Yes you add it... regardless of any new ridiculous instructions.

 

That is incorrect. Many argue that the standards over the past 15 years were ridiculous.  Why potentially report a few inches of snowfall if there was never an inch on the ground? 

 

Personally, I disagree with the new handling of certain special cases (for example, phase changes between sleet and snow), but I want my measurements to be consistent with the current standard.

 

Unfortunately, if you want your measurements to be taken seriously by others, you need to follow the measurement guidelines.

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That is incorrect. Many argue that the standards over the past 15 years were ridiculous.  Why potentially report a few inches of snowfall if there was never an inch on the ground? 

 

Personally, I disagree with the new handling of certain special cases (for example, phase changes between sleet and snow), but I want my measurements to be consistent with the current standard.

 

Unfortunately, if you want your measurements to be taken seriously by others, you need to follow the measurement guidelines.

Yeah I agree with certain aspects of the new guidelines but like you said , phase changes etc or several inches to start a storm followed by rain then several inches to end the storm ... you dont count that second accumulation? Makes no sense.
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Yeah I agree with certain aspects of the new guidelines but like you said , phase changes etc or several inches to start a storm followed by rain then several inches to end the storm ... you dont count that second accumulation? Makes no sense.

In that situation, I believe, there should be two different totals; storm total accumulation, and then ground accumulation (or whatever word you would want to use)
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Yeah I agree with certain aspects of the new guidelines but like you said , phase changes etc or several inches to start a storm followed by rain then several inches to end the storm ... you dont count that second accumulation? Makes no sense.

 

I think it makes some sense, but I also understand your point.

 

The scenario I don't like, admittedly a rare one, is where several inches of snow gets beaten down by a substantial accumulation of sleet and is then followed by several more inches of snow.  Reporting max depth in  my mind is misleading in that situation as all of that precipitation is still on the ground, as opposed to the situation where morning snow is washed away by rain, then replaced by more snowfall.

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In that situation, I believe, there should be two different totals; storm total accumulation, and then ground accumulation (or whatever word you would want to use)

The guidelines I referenced are for reporting total "snowfall" to the NWS.  There are some exceptions for airport climo locations for reasons that I presume are related to aviation, but not climatology, but I don't like the apples to oranges aspect of that.

 

There are other measurements such as total snowdepth (i.e., from all snowfalls), SWE, etc. that are of interest to different folks, such as hydrologists, but for coops and the public, the standard covers what should be reported as "snowfall".

 

My interest is that a consistent standard be followed rather than a hodgepodge that makes it difficult to interpret for climatological purposes.  Unfortunately, that problem is somewhat built in because of changing standards over the years (and a lack of standards at times).

 

Back to observations, the snow had stopped here for a while and the temperature actually fell a degree while it wasn't snowing (the opposite of what I expected).  Currently at 33 and snow is resuming within the past couple of minutes.

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The guidelines I referenced are for reporting total "snowfall" to the NWS.  There are some exceptions for airport climo locations for reasons that I presume are related to aviation, but not climatology, but I don't like the apples to oranges aspect of that.

 

There are other measurements such as total snowdepth (i.e., from all snowfalls), SWE, etc. that are of interest to different folks, such as hydrologists, but for coops and the public, the standard covers what should be reported as "snowfall".

 

My interest is that a consistent standard be followed rather than a hodgepodge that makes it difficult to interpret for climatological purposes.  Unfortunately, that problem is somewhat built in because of changing standards over the years (and a lack of standards at times).

 

Back to observations, the snow had stopped here for a while and the temperature actually fell a degree while it wasn't snowing (the opposite of what I expected).  Currently at 33 and snow is resuming within the past couple of minutes.

 

The sky actually looked darker here during the lull than while light snow was falling an hour ago.

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Light snow starting again in the Smithtown area. I am pretty sure the 4-6 that the NWS posted on their Storm Total Snowfall maps will be an el busto out here.

On edit, I refreshed that page and my area is now in the 2-4 inch range!

they upped totals just in time to be wrong....too funny.

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No.  That would be inflating your total.  Report the maximum depth as snowfall total.  I don't make the rules, but we should all follow the same rules:

 

http://www.americanwx.com/bb/index.php/topic/41853-new-nws-snow-measurement-guide/

First I've seen this.

 

I guess this will mean less recorded snow for all of us.

 

 

Al Gore will be relieved I'm sure.

 

 

:lmao:

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