What JC said, which is much more eloquent than I what I can say which is its always a nowcast IMO as there are so many nuances with storms like this. Part of the reason I got.4” in one of those busts up here was that I was stuck in subsidence as a heavy band dumped snow about 10 miles to my south. Where those areas set up always comes down to nowcasting.
I love that expression, been using it myself for years now, often asking people how much so and so pays them to rent the space you’re giving them in your head.
It truly will be interesting to see how this plays out. You have to give the GFS credit for being consistent with the more southerly snows but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to believe ALL the three models are wrong.
As crazy as it sounds to some, that storm was frustrating because my temp was 33-34 for much of the storm. It was pouring snow but not adding up as much because was it so wet and settling in on itself. It started piling up again once the cold air rushed in and it changed to powder.
I say that you are doing it correctly and @NorthShoreWx would agree, hoping Walt chimes in on this. Here are the guidelines: https://www.weather.gov/media/coop/Snow_Measurement_Guidelines-2014.pdf
Same brain, I have two boards so I'm going to try this.
Here in central Orange County it started as sleet, around 7:30am, and within 20 minutes flipped to snow, off and on light snow all morning, just some accumulations on cars and some grass areas but not much.