Snow total clarification

S

Sledhead!

Member
John, as of today, I think there is about 80" or so of snow in the Western UP, say Ontonagan area. When one looks at your historical weather chart, when snow is recorded, it often does not change the total amount on the ground. Can you explain why there is not a direct correlation?

Also, if you bother to look at the snow totals on Accuweather (Used only as a second set of eyes, yours being the first!) Their totals are nowhere near what you have listed. Any insight to these discrepancies would be appreciated, thanks!
 
jd

jd

Administrator
Staff member
I cannot comment on what the other totals you are getting from other sources, other than to say that many of the snowfall reports you will get from Accuweather are from the NWS automated stations and those are typically very poor at guesstimating how much snow fell. The best source is to use coop data for daily snowfall and then check the monthly summaries from the NWS office that covers the area you are interested in. My snowfall totals and snow on the ground are pretty much in line with the others up this way that measure on a daily basis. In fact, I am a bit low, as the Keweenaw county road commission is reporting 197 for the season and I believe a person in Painesdale is also up around that amount. I was gone during Christmas time and had to go off of reports from observers near by, but they are generally lower than me and have admitted to me that their spots for measuring are in areas that can get wind scoured.

Anyway, the reason for the depth not increasing much with the new snow is that the new snow is compacting the old. This happens with all snow, but is most prevalent where the snow that falls contains a lot of air, as is the case with lake effect snow up this way. While shoveling off my roofs a week or two ago, when I got the the old snow from the beginning of the season, it was very dense and almost like Styrofoam.

Hope that explains it.

-John
 
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