Every Tenth of an Inch Matters: Record East Coast Storm Brings About Snowfall Controversy

The recent East Coast blizzard was one for the record books; however, controversy surrounds the measurement of snowfall at one key location.

Reagan National Airport came under scrutiny when it recorded just under eighteen inches of snow, while others in the area recorded an additional five to ten inches of accumulation.

It called into question the methods by which observers measure snowfall because every tenth of an inch matters.

State Climatologist Dr. Adnan Akyuz explains this past weekend’s blizzard was a perfect storm.

“Since the temperature is high, air can hold a lot of the water vapor in the air.  When you mix it with cold air coming from Canada, and the jet stream produce upward motion, and this is a perfect situation for heavy, heavy storms.”

Assistant climatologist Daryl Ritchison explains the preferred method for measuring snowfall.

“Every six hours, you measure the snow, you clean your board back off.  Your twenty–four total is these four totals added up.”

When Reagan Nation Airport in DC only reported eighteen inches of snow, they first blamed a lost snow board like this one, but in reality, the situation is much more complicated.

“Historically, it was never done that way, and even currently, most non–official sites would not be measuring snow every six hours and sweeping off,” said Ritchison.

And even when procedures are followed correctly, the measurements could be far from accurate.

Ritchison added,”You have buildings where you’re going to get swirling and drifting to occur.  So, if it’s a perfect world, where all the snow came straight down and there’s no wind, then there are better spots than others, but in conditions like this, it’s almost impossible.”

The official weather station for Fargo is at Hector International, but official snowfall is still measured in Moorhead, where it has been since the 1880s.

The single–day record snowfall for the Fargo–Moorhead area is just over sixteen inches.