Jan 31st - Feb 1st Clipper

[East Dubzz]

Looks like the Quad Cities area was the winner form this one, as the models predicted. Don’t think they had the amounts right, though, as there are several reports of 4.5” in that area.

 

I’m going to have to wait for Dubuque to figure out what we got on this one. Guessing around 1.5”, but I could be wrong. That’s about what I expected, so solid storm.

 

Now time to just wait and see how much snow gets washed away this weekend.

[bud2380]

Some local spotters and a local met reported snow ratios were between 70 and 100:1. One person reported 1.4” of snow on .02” qpf. Apparently the CR airport reported .01” qpf and around 3” of snow. Not sure I’m believing that just yet.

[Madtown]

picked up and inch this evening.

[jaster220]

Picked up overcast here

[East Dubzz]

Looks like Dubuque actually reported 2.5”... guess I’m not totally surprised with some of the rates we were getting earlier. When I shoveled earlier, it was about an inch and snowed for several more hours, including some heavier stuff. Nice little surprise in that amount.

 

Don’t remember the last time I saw snow depth like this. Wish we could keep adding to it, but it was awesome to see it add up over the last few weeks!

[Hawkeye]

I have not been able to be on the forums the because my Mediacom cable connection has been down for a couple days.  It has been back up for a couple hours early this morning, but the issue at the pole has not been fixed and Mediacom won't send a tech until next Tuesday.  It's possible I will be down for much of the next five days.  I hope not.... two days without tv and internet sucks.  I don't want to experience seven days without, including Super Bowl weekend.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised by yesterday's clipper.  Cedar Rapids went from -30F to heavy snow in three hours.  That's ridiculous.  After the intial heavy burst, we had a bit of a lull, but it continued lightly.  It then became moderate to heavy again and kept up for a while.  I finished with 3.1 inches.  My liquid total from a core sample was 0.14".  That makes the ratio 22 to 1.  I love these weaker clippers.  The larger storms have largely had small flakes and wind and take place in the middle of the night.  They've also been underperformers here.  These weaker clippers have had larger flakes, no wind, and taken place in the middle of the day.  They've been overperformers, too.

 

Some local spotters and a local met reported snow ratios were between 70 and 100:1. One person reported 1.4” of snow on .02” qpf. Apparently the CR airport reported .01” qpf and around 3” of snow. Not sure I’m believing that just yet.

 

Those ratios are ridiculous and wrong.  When I was out shoveling I guessed about 20-25 to 1 based on how the snow looked and felt.  My core sample confirmed 22 to 1.

[Tom]

Went to bed early last night and noticed by the radar loop that my area scored some heavier returns over night and I finished up with about 1.5" of super fluffy snow.  I was driving last night on the highway and this snow was easily air born causing the snow to be blown around.  It's always a nice site to see when the snow gets blown around easily.  Looks like a sand storm but with snow.  I love powder days!

 

Edit: This one will go down in my memory as the first clipper to have experienced snowfall with sub zero temps!

 

This is what it looked like last night...

 

[Tom]

ORD officially tallied 1.7"...in general, 1-3" area wide...not bad and another over achieving clipper....

 

 

Tim McGill

‏Verified account @WGNWeatherGuy 25m25 minutes ago

More

Snowfall #'s: 1.8" Palos Park,
1.8" Arlington Heights, |
2.1" Peotone ,
2.5" Lily Lake,
2.3" Ashkum,
3.5" Streator,
3.6" Mendota,
2" Aurora,
2.1" Rockford,
1.7" O'Hare,
1.7" Midway #ILwx #Chiberia

[Hawkeye]

A 3-5" snow event at temperatures between -10 and -5 has to be pretty rare.

[james1976]

1.8" here. Nice surprise!

[shakjen]

Ended up with 4.5" here

[jaster220]

A 3-5" snow event at temperatures between -10 and -5 has to be pretty rare.

 

Back in '93 or '94 I got 12" of LES overnight with a temp of -5F. Til then, I didn't know it could snow at such temps. That was NMI tho. Amazing to see it so far south, especially in this warm earth era 

[hlcater]

I don’t think ratios of 70:1 are even feasible. The highest I’ve ever heard of prior is about 35-40:1

[Hawkeye]

I don’t think ratios of 70:1 are even feasible. The highest I’ve ever heard of prior is about 35-40:1

 

From my experience, the see-through dandelion fluff tends to max out at about 50 to 1.

[Stormy]

Some local spotters and a local met reported snow ratios were between 70 and 100:1. One person reported 1.4” of snow on .02” qpf. Apparently the CR airport reported .01” qpf and around 3” of snow. Not sure I’m believing that just yet.

I don’t believe it at all. I have noticed for years already that with winter snow even the NWS isn’t recording high enough SLR or liquid equivalent from snowfall. They might be to lazy to check often or maybe rely on heated rain gauges. I bought a heater for my digital tipping bucket rain gauge and quit using it a long time ago as it was useless unless there was no wind & the temperature was near freezing. Otherwise the snow didn’t melt fast enough, plus if it did melt total liquid still was to low since it evaporated some liquid as it thawed from the warmish surface. Seems like in the winter with snow events is when I usually have higher SLRs then most reporters probably because it’s often windy & snow is falling at right angles and gauges aren’t catching nearly enough, especially larger profile gauges. (Davis Weather Instruments finally changed the profile of their rain collector cone for a little better accuracy during windy rain storms which I purchased last fall.) Therefore I lean my gauges (doesn’t work with digital though ) toward (I don’t & can’t use digital gauges to measure snow) the wind for a little more accuracy. I admit that’s a pain & takes effort if the wind is shifting & it wouldn’t work as well if I couldn’t work at home. Oh well... just my thoughts. End of rant,lol