The "How To's" of Measuring Snow

[azskyman]

In my 50 winters in Illinois, I could never figure out why someone else in a nearby community, another location just miles away, or even a person I knew to be a weather observer, seemed to always report more snow than I did.

From 1974 through 1997, I measured every snow event that came along. Sometimes it was easy because the snow fell gently down, the temps allowed it to accumulate neatly on the driveway, and my snowstick would read the same wherever I tested it.

But most of the time, the snow did not fall by those rules. Instead it started by not sticking to the ground, then, once it finally did, it blew around every building, tree, and bush it could find. If I could measure it accurately at all, I would have to average the depth at multiple locations around the site.

By 1980, I really got "in to" the serious habit of measuring water content of snow. Rarely in Illinois was it a 10-1 ratio...but often something else.

A wonderful friend of mine, Colorado Assistant State Climatologist Nolan Doesken and his friend Arthur Judson, put together a terrific handbook on snow and how to measure it. The book has been around for a while, but it well worth the few bucks if you really want to learn the art and science of snow the right way.

Here's the link...

http://ulysses.atmos.colostate.edu/~odie/snowtxt.html

Enjoy the winter! And who knows, maybe sometime this winter you will actually have more snow than anyone else in your area?

And let Nolan know where you saw this info as well.

[yoda]

Thanks!

[GalvestonDuck]

I've measured my snowfall for the year. That was easy.

[vbhoutex]

Yep!!! Don't need a book here in Southeast Texas to figure out how to measure the snow.