IowaStorm05

I wonder how far it is taken when it comes to not being supposed to measure drifts. In a storm like this one, the whole snowfall is in drifts. The amounts vary dramatically from on location on the ground to another…. When it came to a storm like this, what even counts as a drift? Obviously you can’t include a measurement of the tall vertical plastering against the wall of a house that is 5 times as tall as the field average and count for an average among 7 different field measurements But drifts are still made of snow, and that snow came from being removed from the open area. The idea is that if you enter a large enough area you should be able to measure a multitude of spots and get an accurate measure but I don’t know. With such fierce winds, I am imagining there were large-scale disturbances in snow on the ground. Hell, I even think that the winds were so fierce that, for areas like mine that were on the western edge of larger snowfall amounts, that the wind actually carried a large amount of snow that fell over Willimantic to towns miles away to the east. Like tornadoes removing a roof and depositing it 3 miles away. Because areas to the west received lighter precipitation, the snow being blown away to the east was not replaced by incoming snow from the west.

An ice storm might be ideal for some people on here but I don’t want one, These lethal monsters are cruel, causing injuries everywhere and car accidents galore. Snow is one thing, it is fun and it keeps people off the road but after being in the Midwest, ice storms sort of slip on in without anybody giving them premeditated thought and send folks careening into ravines at 40mph. one time when I was working at a drug store around Christmas time out in IA it was a stormy week and there was the generic Christmas music on the overhead music playing “let it snow let it snow let it snow” and one of our managers was waddling around saying “don’t let it ice don’t let it ice don’t let it ice”. A major ice storm here is unlikely.

Ok so I drove down from Willimantic on 32 south to 395 and then through Waterford to E Lyme. I didn’t really see obviously higher amounts of snow until I got down to about exit 6 on 395. Beyond there I could tell there was more snow…. But it was not fantastically more, and glancing at the fields and drifts I could reason there was at around a foot of snow that fell… But I’m very suspicious of these 15-20 inch totals being reported for the area. Either it was just my luck that the route was in a winding screw zone all the way to the coast, courtesy of HAARPA preventing snow on highways, or people were using some emotional rulers, the kind I started with before I went out and did field averages. That or the fields truly underrepresented what fell because the wind carries the snow off smaller fields into drifts when the topography is erratic. I don’t think there’s more than a foot out there in the areas I have passed in SE CT.

Lets get to zero road fatalities. A pipe dream. An idea I thought was wild and impossible is coming true!!!!! I have a strong understanding of physics when it comes to car crashes and human frailty. I understand that safety of modern cars easily saves lives in 30 to 40 mph crashes, but that these designs are useless in high speed impacts (70 to 80mph). People in CT have been increasingly driving erratically and aggressively on highways lately and It has angered me and now I have a dash cam. Well it turns out I am not the only person with this idea. Since deaths have skyrocketed on US roads, ONE PETE BUTTIGIEG happens to be head of US TRANSPORTATION and they are going to be laying out a plan of reducing speed limits, increasing education and improving road designs!!! https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/01/27/buttigieg-road-deaths/ People drive fast because they falsely think it is safe and theyre never gonna die. Friday night there was black ice around a lot and wet roads below freezing and people were still doing 80 in the freeway. I thought nobody would ever bring these dreams of mine to bear because they are often unpopular but hey!!! Theyre gonna do it!!! I think this post is appropriate for banter because I had just talked about it before and now this came out so I wanted to cher my excitement.

Even with accums that were not on a historic level at my spot, the storm still seemed "Bigger" here than the 13" from earlier this month. I mean because the snow got everywhere. In the walking tunnels, in the doorways, against the walls. Natural 18 inch mounds between cars. The uneven look and all the drifts gave it that "Major" storm feel even if we technically only got 9"

I think it was pasty here.... I think it might be implicated in us barely getting 9 inches out of all that. I mean it was snowing very hard for several hours.

Actually I am starting to wonder if even the bands over us are going to hang around for a good while. My Wunderground radar is staying solid.

It's an 18 inch lucite sewing ruler my mom uses to make quilts. I know its really is an amateur device, but it's what I'm using.

I know i just spit out the calculation result. I get to do one more measurement. Snow still coming down in this band.

You are rubbing salt into my wound. My observation of snowfall all night and day, the Models, the QPF, the DRIFTS.... all suggest we ought to have at least 15 inches. The ground is erratic and lots of man made things like cars around. I went into the open fields nearby and took a measurement average. I suspected these fields are robbed of snow that ends up in drifts, but the strict rules mandated my action. After all, there are some parts of the fields with only a couple inches covering too in contrast to the 2-3 feet drifts. I know if there was no wind we would have much more.... But y'all still got much more anyway.

New snowfall measurement: 8.77" Based on avg of 20 measurements in a small park at 6:55pm EST. Still snowing.

I don't understand the atmospheric physics today with the bands. Winds blasting and everything on the move... How do these micro-scale bands of intensity versus screw zone just plant themselves without moving around just a little? Like yeah I know they do move but it seems like relatively these just sit and wont budge enough to share the wealth?

Maybe could it? Could that narrow death band manage to pivot just ten miles west for a consolation prize? 21z RAP thinks it will..... Otherwise I will be tortured by our screw zone. Somebody? Make it all better please.

Horrible.... But homeowners insurance is a heck of a thing, Yes he lost a lot of personal sentimental things. But look at the upside. He is alive. He gets a new house and a new car and a new boat. Shopping time.

Well.... The RAP offers me 4 more inches before it is done. Will likely actually have to measure one more time. So maybe if that can be realized, I won't feel as scammed by the models and QPF as I do right now. When I measure later tonight, I am going to study an even larger area deeper in the field.

And I dont think people here understood my thinking either. I get it that you dont stick a ruler in a 3 foot drift and add it to the rest of your flat measurements I am not stupid. I was trying to convey that before I went into the field, what I was working with was an area that under no uncertain terms had no surface area that was not severely altered by the wind and drifting. I was dealing with the realization I needed to account for ALL the snow that fell, however that might be done before I remembered the ball field was there. I have not had this kind of snowstorm living in this spot.

I went out to a large field and once I got into the flat open area, I took several measurements and divided the total by the number of measurements I took It averaged out to 7.8333333 inches of snow. I stuck the ruler into numerous spots while trying to get a good amount of evenness in the variations. The wind must do something bad to the snow, or snow growth because for how low this total is. It just seems like such a low amount for how good it snowed and how long it snowed. QPF predictions, snow ratios, radar, personal desire and visual observation all coerce me into a hunch that this is just wrong. To say nothing of all the Flat looking 9-12 inch gulfs between cars and in empty spots. Heh, at least it hasn't stopped snowing yet, but it was getting dark and unless I get surprised I doubt we will get more than 1/2 or so more. It has been a long time since I had to measure as badly mangled snowfall as this.

On this property you do. The drifts are the bulk of what we got!!! All sorts of complicated man-made topography and man-made structure. There really is no wide open space to give an accurate representation because any (small) open area was dramatically stripped of the snowfall by the wind. There is a ball field catty corner to me. I wonder if I owe the universe the justice of going to it and measuring since I am up on here. I guess its the least I could do. I am weenie'd out and psyched about the geometric oddities of what the snow did here... like around the cars in the parking lot and such.

I have done that.... around 9 inches is what it seems to be... But I know that can't be right because of all the drifts every which way.... because a lot of these open areas have remained about the same depth over a several hour period in which it was snowing moderately to heavily... It is just the drifts that have grown a bunch. I know that at this location if I only take an average of open areas is just going to give a major underrepresentation of what fell. I know that comes off a bit weenie... But it really is those drifts that have done the growin with the wind and all. I think that the surrounding topography spanning a couple hundred yard radius caused some of the snow to be lifted from my premises by the wind this time, based on surrounding reports and how hard I have seen it coming down all day. But when it actually stops snowing I will do one more measurement and being my final measurement I will measure a bunch more spots and try and check out areas that surround the property.

We were just a little too far west for the best goods on this one. I hope to squeeze out at least another inch before this is done. I don’t know how to measure it beyond my own ideas of trying to calculate how much moved off of the open areas. A lot of open areas only have around 8 to 12 inches which I measured using a yard stick. This is less than I eyeballed an hour ago. There were a couple parking spots that had a flat 10 inches when I measured those 3 hours ago but they’ve since been disturbed. There are however a few handsome drifts around. And, thanks to both snow removal and drifting combined, one of our exits is no longer ideal. the true snowfall so far could be one foot, as a generous estimate.

Snowfall rates are very much intensified again after being lighter for 2 hours.

I don’t believe we are gonna jack but should be a solid foot when it winds down. This is within modeled possibilities but still a far cry from the clown NAM I got psyched out by. On the other hand I don’t know how much longer it’s gonna keep snowing and at this point I stop tracking it so closely because I don’t like the dopamine drain of seeing a back edge. There’s gotta be around 11 inches average at this point now.

As hard as it is to measure, I can give a description of what I call "General accumulation areas" such as spots between parked cars, and empty parking spots. These locations have 12-15 inches in them, some drifts are as much as 20 inches now. The lesser windblown areas have an average of about 3 inches on them. Radar continues to impress me, showing the pivoting of continued crap coming out of sky from Le Demon Neige.