backedgeapproaching Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Wow. Compared to just NW of me with folks getting 20+ inches, that dryslot screw zone hole over this part of the city made a difference. It was tough to find a spot that was relatively level given some areas were literally bare to the ground with grass showing and other areas had 3 ft drifts but I averaged about 18.5". Climbing in and through it was a nuisance though. The good thing was that during most of the duration, the snow here remained pretty powdery (like 1996) so the trees have little or nothing on them (which pretty much helped to eliminate power outages) and many of the car roofs and hoods were bare. I expected it to feel much colder out but I guess the temp being ~28F with little wind helped. I wouldn't be surprised if some good sublimation will be happening today given the fineness of the snow. Yea, that subsidence zone was the killer yesterday in and around Philly. I picked up 8-9 inches during that time while Philly was OVC or just lt snow or flurries. That was the difference as the NW suburbs totals are in the 26-32" zone with closer to philly 6-10 less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 father in doylestown, reported 26-28 inches in the yard this morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSky Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Ralph and the Allentown area get the coveted lollipop award Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 It was a decent snow. Got anywhere from 10 to 17 inches. We got gypped out of more because we were dry slotted/anti snow-holed most of yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkd Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Best guess is 23". What a storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloWeather Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Now thats a storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Ralph and the Allentown area get the coveted lollipop award It paid to literallly be just to the West and North of the dry slot by just 5 miles or so. If u go back and loop radar you can see during the afternoon while Bensalem was in the dry slot, my area was under a blob of some sort that just sat there and didn't move. Must have been some sort of lifting. Then once that blob started to move ESE with the dry slot, another death band rolled thru with 3-4"/hr rates. Was a really incredible storm. I give the models a B+ on this one for agreement in the long range. However, Euro gets a D-. What saved the Euro from an F was the fact it actually nailed the storm last Sunday for 2 consecutive runs, then it crapped the bed all week long. NAM gets an A- for hi-res models in that it sniffed out the very heavy QPF and the Northward shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBasile Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 After doing this all day at work, I'm glad we 'only' got 14". Not disappointed with the storm at all. Got over a foot, how can you be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaEasternWX Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Now hopefully the snow doesn't melt too quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimillman Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Would have loved to be there for the event, but not going to lie, I'll be very happy to not have to see what that looks like a week from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 The band near South Central PA is the big show...someone is going to put up 3ft somewhere out there. Looking at the totals just posted, looks like this verified, Mechanicsburg and York around 3ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violentweatherfan Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Overall, it was great. The winds showed up, was able to see long periods of heavy snow(not quite whiteout but close) and enjoyed the long duration of the storm too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolute Humidity Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Can any Mt Holly mets update the snow report list. It's missing many cocorahs storm reports, myself included Freehold 1 SSW 23.6" we had an additial 6-7" last night between 7 and 2am. So the earlier numbers are way too low for Monmouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmn Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Just looking at the totals. Looks like my low 30's is accurate. That death band north of the dry slot hung in there for hours. It poured snow for 4 hours. I couldnt keep up while shoveling. I saw 2" accumulate in 20 minutes around 3 pm. Sun was killer today. Lots of compaction. So glad I shoveled when I did. Took a drive. NJ Dot did well even on side streets. Can't say the same for Penn Dot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Well, I'm not sure if I'm in err or the 'trained spotter' from Warminster is in err. There is an 8.3" difference between our reports which isn't a small margin of error. I did everything textbook I think. Used a 4x4 white snowboard as the platform to take measurements, it was isolated in the center of a 2+ acre field with nothing to obstruct measurements (no trees, no shrubs, no fence, etc), the location was flat/level it wasn't a valley nor a hilltop, I took measurements throughout the storm and one at the end in 4 different spots on the board and then took an avg of those 4 as my 'unofficial' snowfall measurement. Is there anything that I did incorrectly? I will say that based on other reports from the nws around the general county area, my total is a few inches too high. I wonder why that is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDoppler Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Ralph and the Allentown area get the coveted lollipop award I don't think it really works like that Most people wait until the storm is over and plop a ruler/yardstick in the ground after the wind has smacked their snow down plus the compaction that would have happened anyway. That is why you have so many 25-28" readings, then this one smaller area that got 32"......the 25" areas really had the same amount. Heck, just one yard from the next gives several inches of difference due to drifting. (even if you totally average each yard out, they are still often different) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JERSEYSNOWROB Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Hopefully we could add to these strip mall snow piles next weekend. Kamu! Hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD0815 Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 28.9 east norriton, drifts over 6 feet, not going to lie, shoveling was rough today, but a great storm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wkd Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Well, I'm not sure if I'm in err or the 'trained spotter' from Warminster is in err. There is an 8.3" difference between our reports which isn't a small margin of error. I did everything textbook I think. Used a 4x4 white snowboard as the platform to take measurements, it was isolated in the center of a 2+ acre field with nothing to obstruct measurements (no trees, no shrubs, no fence, etc), the location was flat/level it wasn't a valley nor a hilltop, I took measurements throughout the storm and one at the end in 4 different spots on the board and then took an avg of those 4 as my 'unofficial' snowfall measurement. Is there anything that I did incorrectly? I will say that based on other reports from the nws around the general county area, my total is a few inches too high. I wonder why that is? If the snowboard was elevated above the surrounding snow on the ground everything seems good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Well, I'm not sure if I'm in err or the 'trained spotter' from Warminster is in err. There is an 8.3" difference between our reports which isn't a small margin of error. I did everything textbook I think. Used a 4x4 white snowboard as the platform to take measurements, it was isolated in the center of a 2+ acre field with nothing to obstruct measurements (no trees, no shrubs, no fence, etc), the location was flat/level it wasn't a valley nor a hilltop, I took measurements throughout the storm and one at the end in 4 different spots on the board and then took an avg of those 4 as my 'unofficial' snowfall measurement. Is there anything that I did incorrectly? I will say that based on other reports from the nws around the general county area, my total is a few inches too high. I wonder why that is?Ralph, did you have an average depth of 31" at the end? Your suppose to measure every six hours then clear the board and then set it on top of the snow. Repeat every 6 hours until the end. Were you measuring every few hours or hour then adding it up? Thy would inflate totals a bit, but not crazy I don't think.If your depth was actually 31"at the end, then snowfall would have been HIGHER because of compaction, maybe 33". But that does seem high compared to others nearby. 8" is a pretty big difference, but maybe the spotter was on the wrong side of those death bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 If the snowboard was elevated above the surrounding snow on the ground everything seems good to me. I use plywood painted white (flat if that makes a difference) and prop it up 6" with 5 supports...one under each corner and one in the center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Ralph, did you have an average depth of 31" at the end? Your suppose to measure every six hours then clear the board and then set it on top of the snow. Repeat every 6 hours until the end. Were you measuring every few hours or hour then adding it up? Thy would inflate totals a bit, but not crazy I don't think. If your depth was actually 31"at the end, then snowfall would have been HIGHER because of compaction, maybe 33". But that does seem high compared to others nearby. I did not clear the board at all, was not aware this was a requirement. I was going out to measure several times during the storm. Final measurements I got at around 10:30pm last night were: 31.6". 31.6", 31.2", 31.2" for an avg of 31.4" for final storm total.Not a big deal, the official snow total from Warminster is what the nws will go with so thats what I will go with too I guess? I just wanted to make sure I did everything correctly for next time. Thanks for the replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 I did not clear the board at all, was not aware this was a requirement. I was going out to measure several times during the storm. Final measurements I got at around 10:30pm last night were: 31.6". 31.6", 31.2", 31.2" Not a big deal, the official snow total from Warminster is what the nws will go with so thats what I will go with too I guess? I just wanted to make sure I did everything correctly for next time. Thanks for the replies! So that was depth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 So that was depth?31.4" final....I edited the last post to note this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 31.4" final....I edited the last post to note this. Ok, just saw that. No biggie. I'm just curios on a microclimate level, if you had a 31" depth that is damn impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40/70 Benchmark Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Final verification and wrap-up for anyone interested: http://easternmassweather.blogspot.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodriveslow2 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Final verification and wrap-up for anyone interested: http://easternmassweather.blogspot.com Good stuff. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodriveslow2 Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Ralph, did you have an average depth of 31" at the end? Your suppose to measure every six hours then clear the board and then set it on top of the snow. Repeat every 6 hours until the end. Were you measuring every few hours or hour then adding it up? Thy would inflate totals a bit, but not crazy I don't think. If your depth was actually 31"at the end, then snowfall would have been HIGHER because of compaction, maybe 33". But that does seem high compared to others nearby. 8" is a pretty big difference, but maybe the spotter was on the wrong side of those death bands. This was how I did my measuring, but noticed something that I could use some help with. My first measurement was 3.8" at 12:30. Cleared the board and placed on top of the existing snow. Noticed at 1:30am (or so) that the board had hardly anything on it and it was definitely coming down pretty good (maybe close to an inch/hr). The wind was blowing it right off the board. How do you account for that lost depth on the next measurement? What I ended up doing was measuring multiple areas in the front and back yards and averaging out which came to 12.5". Snow board had just under 7" on it (so total, if using just the snowboard would have been 10.8). Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Ralph and the Allentown area get the coveted lollipop award And imagine how the snow lovers less than 50 miles NNW in AVP feel about their 2" (that's inches, not feet) dump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 This was how I did my measuring, but noticed something that I could use some help with. My first measurement was 3.8" at 12:30. Cleared the board and placed on top of the existing snow. Noticed at 1:30am (or so) that the board had hardly anything on it and it was definitely coming down pretty good (maybe close to an inch/hr). The wind was blowing it right off the board. How do you account for that lost depth on the next measurement? What I ended up doing was measuring multiple areas in the front and back yards and averaging out which came to 12.5". Snow board had just under 7" on it (so total, if using just the snowboard would have been 10.8). Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions. Yea, because it was so windy and the snow was more on the powdery side it was really hard to get accurate measurements if you were doing it the clear every 6 hours method. Almost impossible really in this storm. I think the NWS and CO-OP do 1 measurement every 24 hours, not sure though. CoCoRaHS asks for board clearing every 6 hours(that's where I am an observer) I think many were just doing a final depth measurment when the snow stopped and that was the total, which is fine really because like you said it was so hard to accurate readings. I think that's what Ralph did and if it was a non drifted area it should provide a somewhat accurate measurment. Like I said,some agencies only require 1 measurment very 24 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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