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January 2nd/3rd Storm Observations


Bostonseminole

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Re: sublimation, I think we all agree that sublimation is more significant after this snowstorm (high SLR, blowing snow, -10˚C) than after our usual snowstorm. How much that sublimation actually eats up accumulation in suburban Boston is difficult to quantify, but it has been implicated in loss of snowpack in places like the Midwest, Utah, and Canada etc.

 

From a lay perspective, lots of comments here and elsewhere that this snowpack seems to be more evanescent than we're used to. The roads were down to asphalt quickly, "easiest New England snowfall I've ever shoveled", etc... on top of rare conditions for this area, so it's interesting to think about.

 

Here's an interesting study, using data from Saskatchewan:

http://www.inscc.utah.edu/~campbell/snowdynamics/reading/Pomeroy.pdf

 

Some interesting observations they make:

- lower temperatures (as in -10˚C/14F or lower) actually facilitate sublimation because the snowcover has lower cohesion and lower transport thresholds

- blowing snow significantly increases surface-area exposure to air, and significantly increases sublimation

- "The percentage of annual snowfall lost to sublimation from a 1-km fetch ranges from 23 to 41 percent of annual snowfall, an amount equal to or greater than (ranging up to 2.6 times) the amount of snow transported and redeposited. The results from 16 locations in the Canadian Prairies show that the average annual amount of snow water lost to sublimation from a 1-km fetch may be up to five times the amount of snow transported to the field edge."

 

On a side note, you guys see this: 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/01/03/prudential/7ZiLmx6YJ29le8SQAjuuKO/story.html

Parts of Prudential mall flooded, AMC Loews Boston Commons evacuated due to frozen pipes

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Right now I have nothing to back up my total except that one pic of the snow blower tracks, but that was windblown and came to about 18" or so. There was a media report from S weymouth where someone probably stuck a ruler in a drifted parking lot. I honestly think if I measured every 6 hrs it would have cracked 20 but I did not and I still wonder if it's too high. I definitely got into that mesoscale band, but there seems to be no other totals near mine.

 

On the contrary, it looks like they have half of what I got, at work and there was supposedly a foot of fluff. Obviously that stuff compacts though.

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Right now I have nothing to back up my total except that one pic of the snow blower tracks, but that was windblown and came to about 18" or so. There was a media report from S weymouth where someone probably stuck a ruler in a drifted parking lot. I honestly think if I measured every 6 hrs it would have cracked 20 but I did not and I still wonder if it's too high. I definitely got into that mesoscale band, but there seems to be no other totals near mine.

On the contrary, it looks like they have half of what I got, at work and there was supposedly a foot of fluff. Obviously that stuff compacts though.

:weenie: :weenie:
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