We have had several squirrels congregating with the birds around our feeders – we keep ears of corn out for them which they quickly devour. In the snow they use their tails as umbrellas. The birds and squirrels have been very active this year, seems we are continuously filling the feeders.
Measuring snowfall this past week has been difficult when temperatures are above freezing as it can melt on warmer surfaces or can become compacted. Many place a board in a windless location (I use my deck) and use a ruler to measure snow depth. Others have a marked stake pounded into the ground. Snow reports must be reported to the nearest inch. 2.5 inches would be reported as three inches. Anything from .40 or below would be reported as a trace.
Snowfall amounts can be measured hourly or at any interval as long as the snow measurement board is NOT cleared more frequently than once every 6 hours.
Another method is using the water equivalent of snowfall by collecting it in your official CoCoRaHS rain gauge. In the winter months you should remove the tube and funnel from the larger cylinder to let the snow accumulate inside of it. You bring the cylinder into the house to let it melt then pour it into the measurement tube to get the water equivalent to the nearest hundredth of an inch. You must have your cylinder located in an area unaffected by the wind. The official gauge can be purchased at the Weather For You store.
Another method is weighing the water content of snow using a digital scale using core samples of snow. The instructions for method can be found here.
At this point in time it doesn’t appear we will have much snow around to measure until the end of the month possibly the first week of December when cold air comes back into the picture. The GEM and GFS models are showing a really cold Arctic airmass settling into the area in mid December. Take this with a grain of salt as these are guesses. We could be in the 40s from Thanksgiving through at least the 27th which would bring us closer to normal temperature wise for this time of year.
My CoCoRaHS reporting station name is Grand Rapids 3.0 NW Here is a copy of the way CoCoRaHS would like to have their reports made out
https://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=measuresnow
The official snow fall at GRR so far this month is now at 8.9″ here at my house I have recorded 6.2″ Somehow the official amounts include snow that falls but does not accumulate. Like Michael I use a ruler I take 3 reading and average them out.
Slim
6.7 inches so far for this month in Otsego
There is a strange light source outside today. Yes the sun has just came out here at my house. And the temperature has now jumped up to 38° if it gets much warmer Mookie will wake up and start posting on how warm it will get. (Just kidding) The mean temperature so far this November is now at 36.7° and that is a departure of -6.0° the warmest it has gotten so far this month is just 52° if this holds for the rest of the month that will be the coldest maximum for any November in recorded history here at Grand Rapids. The current record is 53 set in 1907 with 55 in 2nd place (1920, 1976)
Slim
December and arctic air = cold and snow and a rock n roll winter party! Bring it!