This snowboard will not be cleaned off after each measurement and will allow for natural settling and melting to take place, allowing for a more representative measurement of snow depth. A ruler or yardstick can also be staked out in your yard to facilitate easy snow depth measuring. Now that the snow has fallen, the following steps should be taken to get an accurate measurement. The two measurements that we need most from observers are new snowfall and total snow depth at time of observation.
New Snowfall : This is the amount of snow that has fallen since your last measurement, or since the first flakes began to fall. You don't want to include any snowfall left on the ground from a previous event with this measurement. The snow should be measured to the nearest tenth of an inch on the snowboard or other collecting surface. If there has been a lot of wind blowing and drifting the snow, it may be necessary to take more than one measurement on the snow board or collecting surface and average the measurements together to get a more representative total.
Once you've recorded the new snowfall, clean off your snowboard or measuring surface. Snow Depth : This is the amount of all snow on the ground and may include snowfall that has fallen in previous events. On your second snowboard, or on a flat piece of ground, measure the total snowfall to the nearest inch. Again, more than one measurement may be needed if there's been a lot of wind or some melting has taken place and the snow is not evenly distributed across your measuring surface. If more than one measurement is needed, average all the measurements and record the snow depth to the nearest inch.
Once you've measured the snowfall, we encourage you to send us your report. There are a couple of ways to do so:. If you're one of our storm spotters, please give us a call on the number provided to you during your training. Otherwise, send us your report via Facebook or Twitter. Don't forget to include your location in your report. That was just the basics.
If you would like more information on how to accurately measure snowfall or information on the other types of useful snowfall and winter precipitation measurements, then please see the following resources:. Please Contact Us. Please try another search. Multiple locations were found. Please select one of the following:. Location Help. News Headlines. Please Share! Customize Your Weather. Privacy Policy. Measuring Snow Weather. Current Hazards. Local Radar. Snowfall should not be measured more than 4 times in 24 hours.
You can measure the hourly snowfall rate, but do not clean off your board each hour. Only clean off the board when you take one of the four daily measurements. Once the snow ends, add up the measurements from each time the snowboard was cleaned to reach a storm total. Four measurements a day are standard for NWS reporting stations such as airports but if only 2 measurements a day are taken that is sufficient, say something like 6am and 6pm for example for measurement times.
In this case, the snowfall is the greatest depth of snow observed on the board before it begins to melt. If this occurs several times, measure the snowfall after each snow shower and add each measurement for the total snowfall.
In this case, if the snow never reaches a depth of a tenth of an inch, then a trace of snowfall is recorded. In this case, take several measurements from around the yard where the snow has not drifted, being careful only to measure new snow. Take an average of the various measurements to arrive at a total. The depth of snow on the ground includes both new snow and old snow which was in place. Measure the total snow depth at several locations in your yard which have not drifted or blown.
Take an average of these measurements to arrive at the snow depth. Sometimes old snow can be very hard and crusty underneath the new snow.
0コメント