Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Spring 2011 snowstorm

We had a total of 26 cm from the storm on March 23rd.

This is the highest single day snowfall since March 9, 2007.

The total snowfall this season of 175 cm is now above the average of 160 cm.

If you are seeing this on Wednesday night you might want to get to shoveling as there is a very wet layer under the snow. Once that layer freezes it looks like it won't melt until late next week.

9 comments:

Kuhny said...

Wow! I measured 11 cm this morning (10.30 AM) and another 6 cm late this afternoon for a total of 17 cm. Drifting and compaction were issues as well, as some of the drifts were close to 45 cm deep.
This snow may actually be a bit of a blessing, as it will protect the ground from the cold expected the next few days.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that 26 cm is incorrect. Obviously if you measured that much, it was from the blowing snow. As for the not melting BS, you are incorrect. The temperature will be around -2C but that's taken in the shade. In the spring sunlight all week, there will be ample melting.

Nico said...

Actually, the precipitation gauge at the UW Station says that over a 24h period from right now, 11:45, 9.8mm of snow-water equivalent fell, which using the standard 10:1 ratio means that close to a meter fell - and that's leaving out much of the morning snowfall. So I believe that the estimate of 26 cm may actually be rather conservative. On another note, I came across lots of people on the roads yesterday who'd already bolted on their summer tires. Can you say FAIL? They'd take an entire light change to get into an intersection. Hills? Forget it. If you didn't have winter tires on, yesterday would have been a great day to leave the car at home and take a bus or taxi!

Anonymous said...

While a 10:1 ratio seems reasonable given the temperatures throughout the atmospheric column at the time, (7:1 for temperatures closer to 0C and 15:1 colder than -10C) 9.8 mm would translate into 9.8 cm, not 98 cm. Your metre talk is ridiculous. Also, given that the storm started at 1:30 am, that's 10 hours unaccounted for. We had about 7-10 cm during that time. Total snowfall is 15-20 cm.

Anonymous said...

There seems to be a huge temperature gap between the University of Waterloo station and what's shown on the Environment Canada and the Weather Network on Friday at 9 AM (-7 °C here vs. -13 °C on the aforementioned sites). I wonder what the explanations for this would be...

Anonymous said...

I'm a TWN forecaster, Both our and EC's observations come from CYKF airport, which is in Breslau. This is pretty typical of overnight temperatures with calm or light winds, no mixing with the upper levels. You will typically find urban areas warmer, especially with snow cover.

Nico said...

And FAIL! Glad to know I can multiply! Thanks for reminding me why I was an ARTS student!

Anonymous said...

Global warming is dropping the ball

Kuhny said...

Actually the 26 cm measured at this station was quite reasonable. We at Environment Canada received quite a few reports of 20 to 25 cm from climate and volunteer observers around Waterloo Region from this snowstorm. The snow actually did compress, with some melting from below inititally, so actual accumulations on the ground would have been a bit less.