MegaMike

Mixing hasn't reached the Pawtucket/Providence area so far. KPVD actually observed 0.05 inches of LWE (assuming it's SWE) in 5 minutes from 3:35->3:40am 0.17 inches of LWE since 3:00am with no observations of mixed precipitation..

Roughly about 3 inches in Pawtucket. Sticky snow with good ratios. Not much accumulation on the roadways though... Maybe about an inch.

I thought she was looking for how the units canceled out and a simple function for the weight of snow/water on a flat plane. This is what I did. But, last point and I'll stop discussing this topic... If you're looking for the weight of snow/water on an incline/roof, you can take the weight of the snow *times* the cosine of theta (angle of the roof). So, weight.perp.roof(depth[inches],theta[degrees]) = (((997 kg/m^3)*[(SWE)^3]* [( 2.54 cm/inch)^3]* [(1m/100cm)^3)])*2.20462 lb/kg)*cos(theta) I'm sure the younger audience on this forum would find it helpful to see how the units cancel out.

Adding a SWE term: If snow water equivalent (SWE) is known (in inches)... weight(depth) = ((997 kg/m^3)*[(SWE)^3]* [( 2.54 cm/inch)^3]* [(1m/100cm)^3)])*2.20462 lb/kg

I think I see what she's asking for... The weight of water in lbs as a function of snow depth and or volume (length,width,height)... Density of water = 997 kg/m^3. Assuming a volume of 1 cubic yard: weight(depth) = ((997 kg/m^3)*[1 yard]^3*[(3 ft/yard)^3]*[(12 inch/ft)^3]* [( 2.54 cm/inch)^3]* [(1m/100cm)^3)])*2.20462 lb/kg == 1680 lb You can also change it to (assuming length/width/height is measured in yards): weight(length,width,height) = ((997 kg/m^3)*[length*width*height]*[(3 ft/yard)^3]*[(12 inch/ft)^3]* [( 2.54 cm/inch)^3]* [(1m/100cm)^3)])*2.20462 lb/kg Just be careful with the units. I made these two conversions assuming you measured a depth/length/width/height in yards. You'll have to exclude some terms if you utilize a different unit of measurement. edit: weight not wight...

No problem, Wiz! I'm glad to help. I may keep my process in this thread for the sake of reference.

I've been working on extracting operational variables myself for modeling purposes. I believe the first url ('https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/global-forcast-system-gfs') archives only analysis data (is this what you want?). Regardless, the second url ('http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/products/gfs/') stores/archives both analysis and operational (forecast/predicted) data. When you write "choose which parameters and data," I'm assuming you mean NWP variables such as temperature, wind speed, etc... That being stated; Typically, NWP data is stored by grib files. Very rarely are these grib files stored for specific variable such as 'temperature' or 'wind speed' separately. If they are, however, all you'd need to do is connect to a particular server then download a variable-specific grib file for 'x' different files. You can then convert that file into a .txt/.csv/etc... file afterwards in order to manipulate the data as you wish. What I think you'll need to do, however, is download a grib file (which contains all variables) for one timestamp from a server, then you'll have to extract a specific variable from a grib file itself. Therefore you'll need to a) connect to a server to obtain grib files likely by ftp b) extract a variable from the grib file and c) store the extracted variable as a .txt/.csv/etc... file to manipulate its data. This is how I'm planning on accomplishing this task for my project: a) Firstly, I'd recommend this server ('ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/'). The server hosts multiple NWP models (analysis/operational) in a user friendly and organized manner. It'll be easy to cd and loop through certain directories in order to obtain multiple NWP models for multiple variables == It's convenient . You can use this link 'https://www.weather.gov/mdl/ndfd_data_grid' to determine the abbreviations and the formatting of the directories. b) As for extracting certain variables, I'd recommend NCAR Command Language (NCL). The program can be run on Linux (recommended) or a Linux Bash Shell via Windows 10. It takes only a couple lines of code to extract data using this program. Alternatively, you can use MATLAB by utilizing nctoolbox or MeteoLab (likely more functions than this). Both functions accomplish the same procedure in a slightly more intensive way. If you want a more interactive program and have the patience of a Jets or Browns fan (~1/2 a century worth of patience), you can use the NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit. This program is 10x more tedious and longer than simply using NCL or MATLAB. You'd have to download the grib files manually (or automatically by a loop using a program of your choice) before being able to process the data through the Toolkit. I first used this program when I was an undergraduate. I definitely wouldn't recommend this program now, unfortunately. I'd say it's useful for case studies of one or two events. - You can also use Python and probably R to obtain, extract, and manipulate grib files, as well. My knowledge is very limited for these programs though. I hope this helps and I welcome anyone else who has other methods, ideas, and or corrections!

Meh. They were in between bands for most of the event. I don't think they ever got into the mega band, either (by a few miles). I'm glad I'm in RI for this event instead!

There are three observations of 8+ inches of snow already. North Dighton, MA (8.2/9:38am), Acushnet, MA (8.0/9:45am), and Burrillville, RI (8.0/9:12am). It seems like most of interior SE MA and RI have snowfall accumulations between 4-8 inches atm.

Yup!!! I'm having the same issue too!