famartin Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Its all about how far you can see... Flurries: Visibility greater than 4 miles Light snow: Visibility between 3/4 mile and 4 miles Moderate snow: Visibility around 1/2 mile Heavy snow: Visibility 1/4 mile or less Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svh19044 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Its all about how far you can see... Flurries: Visibility greater than 4 miles Light snow: Visibility between 3/4 mile and 4 miles Moderate snow: Visibility around 1/2 mile Heavy snow: Visibility 1/4 mile or less Thanks for posting this. I always chuckle when I see heavy snow posted over and over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KamuSnow Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ray, is there an accumulation rate that can be approximated from a given visibility or vice-versa? Maybe ratios affect this, but for example, to me heavy snow is >=2" an hour or when I can't see trees/houses that are 800 -1000 feet away. I know it's not technical, and probably not accurate, but that's my approximate standard for heavy snow. Or, from a different perspective, if visibility is 1/2 mile (moderate snow), how much snow should accumulate in an hour? Here it snowed 2.0" in the 1st 2 1/2 hours after it started, which is 0.83 inches per hour. I just measured again, 1 hour and 15 minutes after the 1st measurement, and it's 3.0", which equates to 0.80 inches an hour since the 1st measurement, so the rate has been pretty consistent. To me that's moderate snow. Am I in the ballpark? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ray, is there an accumulation rate that can be approximated from a given visibility or vice-versa? Maybe ratios affect this, but for example, to me heavy snow is >=2" an hour or when I can't see trees/houses that are 800 -1000 feet away. I know it's not technical, and probably not accurate, but that's my approximate standard for heavy snow. Or, from a different perspective, if visibility is 1/2 mile (moderate snow), how much snow should accumulate in an hour? Here it snowed 2.0" in the 1st 2 1/2 hours after it started, which is 0.83 inches per hour. I just measured again, 1 hour and 15 minutes after the 1st measurement, and it's 3.0", which equates to 0.80 inches an hour since the 1st measurement, so the rate has been pretty consistent. To me that's moderate snow. Am I in the ballpark? Thanks! A specific snowfall rate has never been applied to snowfall intensity. Perhaps at some point they'll do that when our automated airport systems can actually measure that, but so far they can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KamuSnow Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 A specific snowfall rate has never been applied to snowfall intensity. Perhaps at some point they'll do that when our automated airport systems can actually measure that, but so far they can't. Okay, thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violentweatherfan Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have some good HD Video of 2010 and 2011 storms I eventually will put together and post within this thread to be used as examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soadforecaster Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I have some good HD Video of 2010 and 2011 storms I eventually will put together and post within this thread to be used as examples. i think that will be huge if you could put together vidoes to show the difference between light/moderate/heavy snow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violentweatherfan Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 i think that will be huge if you could put together vidoes to show the difference between light/moderate/heavy snow Once I find the time...it will happen before winter is out. Unfortunately, most of the video is heavy snowfall. And Ray might even okay a "puking" classification I have from the boxing day storm. Less than two tenths of a mile visibility. Just awesome to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violentweatherfan Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I have already mapped the distances from where I recorded to where visibility is lost...only bad part is it will entice everyone to want KU events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 I have already mapped the distances from where I recorded to where visibility is lost...only bad part is it will entice everyone to want KU events. Exactly how is that different from now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violentweatherfan Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Exactly how is that different from now? Yup, I'm guilty as charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KamuSnow Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Exactly how is that different from now? lol....I was going to say the same thing. Though it might make us a bit more impatient... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.