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blizzard pictures thread


forkyfork

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Tony Gigi has mentioned previously that the snow measuring site at EWR is the best of the three NYC airports. At least, it was when he was an observer there.

The bottom line is that in an urban area with a lot of buildings close together... the chances of a good measurement are near zero, particularly in a windy storm. All the snow blowing off the rooftops is going to inflate totals. Hell, the south side of my parents house had 4" more than what I reported as my official total... it all blew off the roof!

Does this explain something (in the air)?

TOTALS 24.5

</SPAN> LIQUID EQUIV 2.45

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Does this explain something (in the air)?

TOTALS 24.5

</SPAN> LIQUID EQUIV 2.45

EWR reported 1.48" for their 24.2" of snow.

Regardless, blizzard snows tend to have low ratios because they are windblown so much, the dendrites get shattered. Bill Goodman explained this on the board in another thread. My ratios were about 10:1.

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EWR reported 1.48" for their 24.2" of snow.

Regardless, blizzard snows tend to have low ratios because they are windblown so much, the dendrites get shattered. Bill Goodman explained this on the board in another thread. My ratios were about 10:1.

1.48 would make more sense. I was just copying and pasting that from one of OKX's climate reports.

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Tony Gigi has mentioned previously that the snow measuring site at EWR is the best of the three NYC airports. At least, it was when he was an observer there.

The bottom line is that in an urban area with a lot of buildings close together... the chances of a good measurement are near zero, particularly in a windy storm. All the snow blowing off the rooftops is going to inflate totals. Hell, the south side of my parents house had 4" more than what I reported as my official total... it all blew off the roof!

I agree emphatically-- EWR seems to have pulled ahead both with snowfall AND temps-- no more of those annoying 89 degree highs in the summer like NYC seems to get with high frequency ;) And to think how godawful they used to be with temps back in the 90s lol.

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Why don't you enlighten me?

Newark Airport's totals agreed perfectly with all of the obs around them except, well, yours. Sorry, but that's how it is. This was a really hard storm to measure. Rahway's ob was from the public, so that's that.

Jake, I completely agree about the problems with measuring snowfall. The issues they have at JFK and LGA are well documented (because they measure at roof tops) and I agree that some of these 30 inch plus amounts are probably exaggerated-- but how do you feel about some of the reports of 30-32 inches coming out of Central Jersey-- like where that famous video was recorded?

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Jake, I completely agree about the problems with measuring snowfall. The issues they have at JFK and LGA are well documented (because they measure at roof tops) and I agree that some of these 30 inch plus amounts are probably exaggerated-- but how do you feel about some of the reports of 30-32 inches coming out of Central Jersey-- like where that famous video was recorded?

I think most of the reports coming out of Monmouth/Ocean counties are pretty legit - they got the worst banding for hours on end all day long. I think a lot of these reports were "measured" fairly accurately but they're off in urban areas due to the blow off from roofs which as I've said is pretty much futile to avoid. I'm not really sure at this point, to be honest. I think some of the totals in Eastern Union county are artifically high - Western Union was under the "megaband" for hours and came up with totals in the high 20s which seems to be the maximum that should've been found in this area. I measured extrmeely carefully here in Jersey City and came up with 25"/26" while the acoustic snow depth measurer located in an open area in Liberty State Park recorded exactly 20". I have no doubt my readings were slightly contaminated due to blow off from roofs but there is no easy way to avoid that.

Some totals just seem completely funky. A 17" report on Staten Island seems way too low but the 29" from Great Kills seems way too high.

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It's hard to say because there wasn't just one or two 30"+ readings. Elizabeth was close to 32, Rahway was 32. My parents live in between in Linden and I can tell from their pictures they had close to that amount. Its hard to eyeball and that certainly isn't a legit measurement but is in line with towns to the immediate north and south of them.

I think most of the reports coming out of Monmouth/Ocean counties are pretty legit - they got the worst banding for hours on end all day long. I think a lot of these reports were "measured" fairly accurately but they're off in urban areas due to the blow off from roofs which as I've said is pretty much futile to avoid. I'm not really sure at this point, to be honest. I think some of the totals in Eastern Union county are artifically high - Western Union was under the "megaband" for hours and came up with totals in the high 20s which seems to be the maximum that should've been found in this area. I measured extrmeely carefully here in Jersey City and came up with 25"/26" while the acoustic snow depth measurer located in an open area in Liberty State Park recorded exactly 20". I have no doubt my readings were slightly contaminated due to blow off from roofs but there is no easy way to avoid that.

Some totals just seem completely funky. A 17" report on Staten Island seems way too low but the 29" from Great Kills seems way too high.

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It's hard to say because there wasn't just one or two 30"+ readings. Elizabeth was close to 32, Rahway was 32. My parents live in between in Linden and I can tell from their pictures they had close to that amount. Its hard to eyeball and that certainly isn't a legit measurement but is in line with towns to the immediate north and south of them.

:huh: I think two reports of 32", and all others less than 30", counts as just "one or two 30"+ readings".

Photos near homes can be deceptive since if you are downwind of a structure, it might "look" like there was more snow than there really was (see my photo).

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I think most of the reports coming out of Monmouth/Ocean counties are pretty legit - they got the worst banding for hours on end all day long. I think a lot of these reports were "measured" fairly accurately but they're off in urban areas due to the blow off from roofs which as I've said is pretty much futile to avoid. I'm not really sure at this point, to be honest. I think some of the totals in Eastern Union county are artifically high - Western Union was under the "megaband" for hours and came up with totals in the high 20s which seems to be the maximum that should've been found in this area. I measured extrmeely carefully here in Jersey City and came up with 25"/26" while the acoustic snow depth measurer located in an open area in Liberty State Park recorded exactly 20". I have no doubt my readings were slightly contaminated due to blow off from roofs but there is no easy way to avoid that.

Some totals just seem completely funky. A 17" report on Staten Island seems way too low but the 29" from Great Kills seems way too high.

Yup. Just need to drive along the GSP around towards exit 105 or I-195 from east to west and you'll see the dramitic differences like I did this morning. It's like night and day driving along I-195. I went from tons of snow at the eastern end of I-195 to nothing but grass at the western end. Even up in Marlboro in NW monmouth county, I still had a few inches on the ground as of this morning.

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It's hard to say because there wasn't just one or two 30"+ readings. Elizabeth was close to 32, Rahway was 32. My parents live in between in Linden and I can tell from their pictures they had close to that amount. Its hard to eyeball and that certainly isn't a legit measurement but is in line with towns to the immediate north and south of them.

yea but if you check out the next town over reports of Clarke, NJ, just west of rt 27 from Rahway the total was 27 inches. I got a little over 23 inches on the north side of Edison, NJ., not to far away from Rahway

Newark airport got a little over 24 inches, very near Rahway and basically Elizabeth. Roselle is just north of Rahway and just south of Elizabeth. Union, NJ is just north of Rahway and SW of Elizabeth on the parkway

...UNION COUNTY...

RAHWAY 32.0 1000 AM 12/27 PUBLIC

ELIZABETH 31.8 700 AM 12/27 TRAINED SPOTTER

ROSELLE 28.7 710 AM 12/27 TRAINED SPOTTER

UNION 27.0 745 AM 12/27 TRAINED SPOTTER

CLARK 27.0 745 AM 12/27 PUBLIC

FANWOOD 26.0 100 AM 12/27 PUBLIC

GARWOOD 25.0 845 AM 12/27 PUBLIC

ROSELLE PARK 21.0 1230 AM 12/27 PUBLIC

PLAINFIELD 18.0 900 AM 12/27 TRAINED SPOTTER

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