Monday, December 10, 2007

Winter Blasts Center of Nation For Second Time

It was a cold and wintry weekend for many of the central states, with several inches of snow in Denver to over an inch of ice in southwest Missouri. Wintry precipitation also fell across portions of New England. This was all due to a huge cold front that draped across the country.

The town of Lamar, Missouri was completely without power Monday morning.

Meanwhile, portions of the south are wondering what happened to the date -- as it feels like September or early October. Highs from Texas to North Carolina and Georgia have been well into the 70s with a few 80s.

Round 2 of the wintry weather is coming tonight into Tuesday and Wednesday. It promises more snow for Denver and ice from Oklahoma and Kansas into Missouri and Illinois.

The freezing rain makes for tough measurements in a CoCoRaHS world. You should have the inner cylinder and funnel removed from your gauge anytime you are expecting wintry precipitation.

At your observation time, bring the cylinder in and let the contents melt.

It really helps to have 2 gauges because you can simply take the gauge off and replace it with the new one at your observation time.

I do that here in Colorado when I am pressed for time in the morning -- I bring the gauge with the frozen precipitation inside and put the funnel on it as a lid, and let the contents melt during the day. When I get home from work I will measure and report the precip.

It is OK to make it easy on yourself. You can always go back and do the data entry for your location if the morning is rushed and you are pressed for time.

The most important thing is to just make the observation, especially if it is precipitating at your time of observation.

5 comments:

  1. I would LOVE to post my rain! I feel lonesome just posting ZERO's! I'm just glad my temps aren't zero's like some areas! But I would trade warm temps for cold and RAINY! Any takers!?

    We had a marine layer blow in today over a large area (I'm panhandle FLA). Made the gloom but no rain.

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  3. After several days of a cold freezing rain I would switch with you in a heart beat and I wish I had the power to do that. Let me talk with someone and I will see what I can do. :)

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  4. Observation at CoCoRAHS station KS-RN-17 HUTCHINSON 3.0 SSE
    Rain began approx. at 4:30 pm yesterday and still raining this morning at observation time at 7:00 am this morning total amount of precip is 2.60 inches, minor "typical" flooding has occured!
    Lots of ice, appears to be about 1/2 to 1 inch of ice coating tree limbs and power lines, a non-stop sound of tree limbs breaking and hitting the ground!

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  5. Hope it's ok to change directions here. How can you tell the difference between a Trace and dew? There was definite condensate inside the funnel and tube, but I know it didn't fall as rain. Should I report zero? Thanks. Enjoying the fun.

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