ErieWX Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 So I have a question - do people really clear the board every 6 hours? I always understood that was only for airports to meet FAA regulations, and especially in this region or in my own backyard where the snow tends to be very high ratio and compacts. It’s not representative to what is actually on the ground in my opinion. I always understood it as you clear it 24 hours or when the snow stops falling for the event, whichever comes first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombo82685 Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 1 hour ago, ErieWX said: So I have a question - do people really clear the board every 6 hours? I always understood that was only for airports to meet FAA regulations, and especially in this region or in my own backyard where the snow tends to be very high ratio and compacts. It’s not representative to what is actually on the ground in my opinion. I always understood it as you clear it 24 hours or when the snow stops falling for the event, whichever comes first. I try to whenever I can. If you want the most precise measurement you should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErieWX Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 1 hour ago, tombo82685 said: I try to whenever I can. If you want the most precise measurement you should. Yeah I wasn’t really sure how often is the standard or accepted way, I just follow the measurement guideline graphics that gets tweeted. Probably should attend one of the cocarahs seminars or spotter thing that the local NWS office here is doing one of these days lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icicleman Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 37 minutes ago, ErieWX said: Yeah I wasn’t really sure how often is the standard or accepted way, I just follow the measurement guideline graphics that gets tweeted. Probably should attend one of the cocarahs seminars or spotter thing that the local NWS office here is doing one of these days lol. It really depends on your location. You can do every 6 hours or, down here in PHL, we sometimes do every 6 flakes. Here's my snow OBS from the Feb 23 storm, you can see how precise we are down here. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 On 3/15/2023 at 5:03 PM, ErieWX said: So I have a question - do people really clear the board every 6 hours? I always understood that was only for airports to meet FAA regulations, and especially in this region or in my own backyard where the snow tends to be very high ratio and compacts. It’s not representative to what is actually on the ground in my opinion. I always understood it as you clear it 24 hours or when the snow stops falling for the event, whichever comes first. It is now 24 hours, once a day. It used to be every 6 hours. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 @ErieWX now I confused myself about clearing off boards. In the wxcoder form I use it says you could clear the board once every 6 hours. I have to e-mail Lee about my thermometer, I will ask him again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 I e-mailed Lee Robertson who is the Data Program Meteorologist at Mount Holly about that clearing question and when he responds I will post it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, Rainshadow said: I e-mailed Lee Robertson who is the Data Program Meteorologist at Mount Holly about that clearing question and when he responds I will post it. Clear the board just once a day at observation time. Take a measurement as soon as you can when the snow ends or starts changing to rain. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombo82685 Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 3 hours ago, Rainshadow said: Clear the board just once a day at observation time. Take a measurement as soon as you can when the snow ends or starts changing to rain. That does not sound precise at all. What about compaction if it’s a fluffy snow? Seems like it would default lower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErieWX Posted March 17 Author Report Share Posted March 17 3 hours ago, tombo82685 said: That does not sound precise at all. What about compaction if it’s a fluffy snow? Seems like it would default lower It’s one of those debates with 2 sides to it. In my opinion, the 24 hour puts more equal weight on weather conditions, like if wind is mangling dendrites for example. Like a windy climate might have lower totals than a non-windy climate with the same temp and qpf with 6 hour, even though both have a crippling snowstorm. One might look at totals and think “wow, that windy climate doesn’t seem too bad.” The arguments for 6 hour might be that well, the 6 hour actually represents how much snow crews like plow operators and airports have to move, which takes up more space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 5 hours ago, tombo82685 said: That does not sound precise at all. What about compaction if it’s a fluffy snow? Seems like it would default lower The one thing is to measure it once it stops falling or changes to non-snow. It is rare to snow continuously for 24 hours. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErieWX Posted March 17 Author Report Share Posted March 17 16 minutes ago, Rainshadow said: The one thing is to measure it once it stops falling or changes to non-snow. It is rare to snow continuously for 24 hours. Yeah that’s from the official NWS and federal guidelines. Measure when it stops or changes over as soon as possible, but only clear the board itself every 24H. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainshadow Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, ErieWX said: Yeah that’s from the official NWS and federal guidelines. Measure when it stops or changes over as soon as possible, but only clear the board itself every 24H. It is kind of convenient there is no settling between snow events. I have this other "Smarch" example, it snows, it melts in the afternoon sun and then it snows again at night. I would assume the snowfall is 4.1" in this example. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rramblings Posted March 18 Report Share Posted March 18 On 3/17/2023 at 6:56 AM, Rainshadow said: It is now 24 hours, once a day. It used to be every 6 hours. Thank-you Tony, that is what WFO Mt Holly told me to do in late 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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