Snow gauge

[euroBen]

Has anyone ever tried to make a snow gauge. I was thinking about making a rain gauge and adding a heated wire to melt the snow. Then add a calculation so that it measures the amount of water and relates that to how much snow that would have come from. I could get it to only trigger below a certain temp. Anyone tried this. Don't even know if I would work but it is an idea I have had for a while.

[xairbusdriver]

Apparently, the air temperature makes a big difference in the volume of snow. I would assume the height at which the flakes form and the temps on the way down would also affect that. In other words, the "formula" for converting inches of 'rain' to 'snow' are often highly erroneous. And just for the folks where snow is allowed more than once a year , the more snow accumulates, the more it tends to compact! The special theory of relativity may be an easier formula to understand!

I have seen at least one weather watcher here using a simple "yard-stick on a board" for displaying via he Mark-1 Eyeball the snow depth. Of course, wind can also greatly affect snow depth, even in ones own yard! I have a sneaky suspicion that NOAA uses a "stick in the snow" measurement 'system'. Butt I've awlredy ben rong wonce this yeer...

[elagache]

Dear euroBen, X-Air, and WeatherCat fans,

First things first, welcome to the WeatherCat forum!

Has anyone ever tried to make a snow gauge. I was thinking about making a rain gauge and adding a heated wire to melt the snow. Then add a calculation so that it measures the amount of water and relates that to how much snow that would have come from. I could get it to only trigger below a certain temp. Anyone tried this. Don't even know if I would work but it is an idea I have had for a while.

I see that you have an Oregon Scientific station, so you would have to make this for yourself.  However, you might learn a few things from the design of the Davis rain gauge heater.  Here is some information on it:

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=07720

It has a 24 watt heating coil, so that gives you some idea of the kind of heating element to consider.  It uses some sort of mechanical thermostat.  I assume this is the sort of thing that can be purchased at an electrical/electronics supply house.  Can you bring AC power to your rain gauge?  If so, it is some work, but it doesn't sound too difficult.  I think your main problem will be finding a heating element that will warm your rain gauge collector cone, but not damage the plastic.

I believe some WeatherCat users have made their own heaters, so you may have to wait for those folks to check in and see your question.

Apparently, the air temperature makes a big difference in the volume of snow.

I believe you are correct in this.  If you really are after the amount of snow, you have to measure it directly.  However, in many cases what is interesting is the amount of moisture that has fallen as snow.  As such, converting the snow into water will give you a more practical sense of how much water will eventually be released when the snow melts.

Cheers, Edouard 

[HantaYo]

Has anyone ever tried to make a snow gauge. I was thinking about making a rain gauge and adding a heated wire to melt the snow. Then add a calculation so that it measures the amount of water and relates that to how much snow that would have come from. I could get it to only trigger below a certain temp. Anyone tried this. Don't even know if I would work but it is an idea I have had for a while.
/quote]

Measuring snow water content here in Colorado the formula amount of moisture in snowfall = inches of snow would not work.  Water content of snow is highly variable.  I range from water content from .01" moisture content/1" of snow to around .15" moisture content/1" of snow.  Throw in rain/drizzle/sleet turning into snow and all bets are off. 

Your best bet is to have a snow board, measure frequently depending upon the snow fall and settling rate and then measure the water content from a snow board core sample.

[Felix]

I had the following snow-to-liquid equivalent info stored away in my computer weather folder:

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/346/

For my own snow reporting, I follow the CoCoRaHS guidance:

http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=measuresnow

I have two snowboards which I place in wide open areas when snow is in the forecast and average the two snow-depth readings to the nearest tenth of an inch. Then I use the four-inch CoCoRaHS rain gauge to take snow cores off the snowboards and melt them to determine the liquid equivalent for reporting purposes.

[xairbusdriver]

Felix, do you make house calls?

[Felix]

Felix, do you make house calls?

Do you even get snow in GA, X-Air?

Just kidding, I spent a year in Valdosta (Moody AFB) learning how to fly and getting red clay on my boots.    They used to say Moody produced the best instrument pilots and Vance the best crosswind landing pilots. Don't know about that but I do know the weather wasn't all that great in Valdosta and we had a lot of "weather days" (no-fly days) which resulted in some Saturday flying. If it hadn't been for that Moody weather classification called "supervised solo in the pattern for the senior class" (the class who would graduate in the next six weeks), we would never have gotten our requisite solo flying hours needed for graduation within the allotted timeframe. So the seniors just made multiple T&Gs from the VFR pattern on low ceiling days to log solo hours. I suspect that wouldn't pass muster here 50 years later in today's more austere fiscal climate.

[xairbusdriver]

I live in south-western TN, not GA. If I walk a mile south, I'm in MS. If I walk 20 miles west... I'll be very tired, and almost in the Mississippi River! You may have me confused with LesCimes? I think he lives in GA, barely.

However, we do allow snow every other year, but it must be melted within 48 hours. Last time that rule was ignored, we fired the weatherman! We do allow the snow to be on different days as long as the total is below 2 inches. When it reaches that depth, all public services and 95% of businesses simply close up (Hardware stores sell their three snow shovels and then close). Most people here can barely handle rain on the roadway, the sight of snow somehow flips a switch in their brains and they only drive with the gas or brake pedal on the floor!

I never made it to Moody, probably due to there not being enough crosswind! I went through Vance! "68E" (last class to use year/letter designations, at Vance, anyway), two sections, the largest class ever for the base. Went back for our 47th Reunion last September. We were a little strange like that, most have those gatherings on 'cardinal' years (10, 20, 40, 50). I guess that reminds us too much of instrument flying!!!

Still remember my first solo takeoff in the 38! Do you know why they built the 38 runways so long? So you can make a non-burner takeoff! I discovered I'd done that when I tried to take the throttles OUT of burner and noticed they were never IN burner! I guess mobile never noticed (or assumed I was aborting). That jet was a real rush almost every flight!

[Blicj11]

I see that you have an Oregon Scientific station, so you would have to make this for yourself.  However, you might learn a few things from the design of the Davis rain gauge heater.  Here is some information on it:

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=07720

It has a 24 watt heating coil, so that gives you some idea of the kind of heating element to consider.  It uses some sort of mechanical thermostat.  I assume this is the sort of thing that can be purchased at an electrical/electronics supply house.  Can you bring AC power to your rain gauge?  If so, it is some work, but it doesn't sound too difficult.  I think your main problem will be finding a heating element that will warm your rain gauge collector cone, but not damage the plastic.

I use the Davis Rain Collector Heater. It has a thermal cutoff switch, which simply keeps the heater from getting too hot. It maintains the heater between 85? F and 110? F (30? and 43? C). You have to manually turn the heater on when it snows and off when it doesn't. I had the guy who set up my home entertainment system write me an app so I can turn the heater on and off from my iPhone. I have used this setup for two winters now and it works great.

I measure the snow depth manually, using the CoCoRaHS guidelines.

It would be cool to have a custom WeatherCat gauge that would display snow stats based on the Daily Snow Editor. I have no idea how to work out snow depth; I'm just saying it would be cool.

[Felix]

Sorry for getting your state wrong, X-Air! Can't say I've known of anyone who made a T-38 unintentional non-AB takeoff but we did have a first solo in my class who started his takeoff roll with nosewheel steering engaged...death grip on the stick I guess. Flight Commander was pulling a rotation in the RSU and figured out the problem pretty quickly when he saw the yaw instability absent asymmetrical thrust. Everybody on tower freq heard two words, "Nosewheel Steering." Said student got his finger off the nosewheel button before an abort was called over Guard and he continued takeoff roll. Needless to say, he got a royal a$$ chewing and bought a lot of beer at the O'Club that Friday night. 

Blick, that sounds like a pretty good system you have. I've thought about wiring up a metal NWS Standard Rain Gage with thermostatically controlled electric tape but just never got around to the project.

[LesCimes]

Correct, I live in Georgia but only three miles from the South Carolina state border marked by the Savannah River. Snow? What's that?