During the spring and summer months when we get a good ole fashioned thunderstorm, we usually get a measurable amount of precipitation and it’s fairly easy to measure using the trusty rain gauge. The only problem with measuring the precipitation that comes out of a thunderstorm is that it could rain a lot harder in one area and a few blocks down the road there may be none at all.
The same kind of problem happens when it snows, but the distance between extreme differences is usually a little larger. But that’s not the only problem that we have getting snowfall totals. Wind will blow the snow around creating drifts which makes the snow totals look larger in some areas and smaller in others. And if that wasn’t enough, the temperature plays a part in what’s called the Snow to Water Ratio.
Typically, we have a 10 to 1 ratio which means for every 10 inches of snow we see, that equals out to be about an inch of liquid precipitation. However if it’s colder outside, the ratio may end up being around 15 to 1, which means we need more snow to fall to get that one inch of water. But if it’s warmer out, we’ll get a wet snow which means the ratio could be around 8 to 1, it doesn’t take as much snow to get our inch of water then!
Weather Last Week
February 10: 3/22/Trace
February 11: 1/7/0.6”
February 12: -11/10/0”
February 13: -19/33/0”
February 14: 15/48/0”
February 15: -5/17/Trace
February 16: -7/14/0”
Forecast discussion for the week ahead:
After a chance for snow and one more cold day on Thursday, spring is going to make an appearance! Temperatures are going to be on the way up over the weekend and into next week. Along with the warmer temperatures, we are going to have high pressure in place giving us quite a bit of sunshine. After all the cold, I think we’ve earned it!