How deep is the snow at your place?
The NIWA peeps are well curious about the nigh-on unprecedented amount of frozen precipitation (read: snow) falling all over NZ.
In Wellington, and as we speak: it’s snowing _in_ the CBD and also at sea level (Greta Point, for example). This is pretty darned unusual*. And the scientists are keen to get some data, from all of you, all over New Zealand! Herewith the blurb:
How much snow is there at your place?
In real life I’m a hydrologist, and we don’t often get good data in New Zealand on snowfalls at low elevations. So I thought I’d try the internet!
If you want to, I’d be really interested to know how deep the snow is (and when you measured it), and which suburb/area you live in (& perhaps a post code?). I got a really helpful response in July 2011 – thanks everyone 🙂
Here’s one of my observations:
9.5 cm (average of 10 readings)
1030am on 25 July 2011
Burnside 8053For me, the most interesting thing is the _average_ snow depth, rather than the deepest snow drift.
There is lots of detailed guidance on how to do scientific snow measurements, but here’s the simple story:
Be careful! Snow and ice surfaces are very slippery. Your safety is more important than data collection.
Put a ruler vertically into the snow down to the ground level, and read off how deep the snow is. Do it ten times, and take the average (or the median, if you have a lot of variability and enough time to sort your data).
Try to choose places that are typical. Not in the middle of snow drifts or valleys. Not right next to a building or fence.
If there are several days of snow, try to take measurements every day, during fine spells when it has stopped snowing.
If you are feeling ambitious, you might want to measure snow water equivalent too:
Measure the depth of snow at the place where you are going to sample the snow water equivalent
Find an old saucepan (or similar cylinder) with straight sides, and measure its (inside) diameter
Press the upsidedown saucepan vertically down into the snow until you reach the ground (snow may need to be compressed into the pan – that’s ok)
Pick up the saucepan and most of the snow should come with it. Pick up any snow that falls out and put it in the pan.
Melt all the snow in the pan, and measure the volume of water (e.g. with measuring jug).
Report back these pieces of information: Depth of snow (mm), diameter of pan (mm), volume of melted water (millilitres), Date, Time, Location
If you’re interested, the snow density in % units is the volume of water divided by the original volume of snow (typically in the range 10%-40%)
e.g. Depth of snow =180 mm, Diameter of pan =200mm, volume of melted water = 1620 mL. Snow volume is 5655 mL (=.001*180*Ï€*(200/2)^2). Density = 100*1620/5655 = 29%
For more help or detailed information, see http://www.erh.noaa.gov/gyx/measuring_snow.htm
PS: be very careful outside – only go where you feel safe.
There’s also a facebook group, available here.
So, go out! Measure things! Be a _part_ of science! Post your measurements on the FB group or here as comments 🙂
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Related posts:
Waiology: Crowd-sourcing for snow depth data
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* Climate change, anyone?
0 Responses to “How deep is the snow at your place?”
🙁
0 cm (average of 10 readings)
12:10pm on 15 Aug 2011
Wellington CBD 6011
Didn’t settle here and the sun has just come out.
I’m in Rarotonga, and we’ve got 12cm of snow on the beach..
In Palmerston North. Not a bloody thing.
South of Rotorua we’ve had flurries through the morning, it had settled on the hills overnight but was gone by lunchtime.
Blue Mountains Rd, Upper Hutt
Google says -41.17476, 175.03 about 250m ASL
At 1530 this afternoon snow was 11cm deep. It has been snowing steadily since 1230 and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.
Got out just now (1715) in central Dunedin (can’t be much above sea level) on a paved bit of backyard had a median of 31mm (min 20 and max 78, guess it melts/accumulates in odd patterns)
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In Lagos. Not a single flake.
I’m in Invercargill and there’s NO snow here on the ground at all. Not a bit. Yet I am still stuck here, waiting for a plane to take me to Auckland….. Fun.
[…] Once again, I’d love to hear from people who have measured the snow depth at their place – read here to find out how to help. […]
At about 1300 Tuesday it was 18cm.
The promised storm came in at about 1430 and it has been snowing big fluffy flakes since then.