A rare winter storm brought significant snow to the southern USA, from Texas through the Carolinas.  This recent snowfall has led to a staggering statistic from February 12:  Snow covers at least a part of all 50 States!  (There are patches of snow on the mountains of Hawaii)

Check out the latest snow cover analysis from Saturday, February 13th.  About 67% of the land area of the USA has snow cover.

Just how much snow fell within the city limits of Toledo?  No, not just in your back yard, your neighbors, or even downtown.  I am talking how much snow total, if it could all be put into one big pile!  After one incorrect crack at it, I gave it a try again and I think my calculations are right now.  See the graphic below and my math to support it. 

Okay, the Toledo city limits is 84 square miles, which I calculate to be 206,988,400 square yards.  The recent snowfall was just above 12″ which is 0.33 yards.

Multiply an area by a depth and Poof!  You have a volume…so 206,988,400 square yards multiplied by 0.33 yards equals 85,865,472 cubic yards!

WOW, that means this past storm dropped 85,865,472 cubic yards of snow just within the Toledo city limits.  Unbelievable!  Let me know your thoughts or comments.  cvickers@wtol.com

We have received a lot of questions about how to properly measure snowfall.  Here are some guidelines:

The best thing to do is find an area that isn’t blocked by fences or buildings, etc.  You also don’t want to pick the windiest spot in your area.

Over a large area, measure the snow in many different spots.  Hit spots all throughout the area.  Then, combine all the measurements and take the average.  The more readings you can take the better.

With strong winds, getting a very accurate measurement is quite difficult.  However, if you get many readings and take the average, that should give you a basic idea of the overall snowfall.

Snow is beginning to ease a little.  I just measured 7″ as of 9pm here in downtown Toledo.  Many other areas are coming in around the 7-9″ range.  Winds are calm now and will be throughout the early part of the overnight.   I expect winds to pick up around 5/6am to 15-20mph.  This means lots of blowing & drifting snow.  Snow will continue on your Wednesday – still thinking about storm totals in the 8-11″ range…although it’s going to be hard to measure due to the blowing and drifting tomorrow. 

Find out more & post your snowfall totals on our Facebook page – WTOL, Meteorologist Tara Hastings or Meteorologist Chris Vickers

We’re still on track for seeing 8-11″ total snowfall across most of the area.  Some of you may see a lull as there are small breaks in the radar but it will fill back in.  Snow overnight, tomorrow morning & tomorrow afternoon.  Winds not too bad right now but I do expect them to pick up later tonight & tomorrow.  This will blow & drift snow around & create low visibilities.  The snow has a low water ratio which means it’s very fine & powdery. 

We would love to hear how much snow has fallen in your area.  Try to find an open spot to avoid blowing & drifting…this will give you the best measurement.  Head over to our WTOL facebook page or post your amounts along with city & time you took your measurements on our FACEBOOK FAN PAGES – Meteorologist Tara Hastings or Meteorologist Chris Vickers. 

Tara

In the past few years, January 2009 was the most productive in terms of snow.

January 27:  1.9″

January 28:  8.9″          Storm total:  10.8″

January 9:     4.3″

January 10:  7.6″      Storm total 11.9″

Under cloudy skies, and intense television lights, Phil saw his shadow.  According to the tradition, this means six more weeks of winter.

I am leaving this post uncategorized, since we don’t have a category for musings from fuzzy animals.

One side effect from this arctic blast of air is the fact it holds very little moisture.  When we speak of humidity, it is relative to temperature.  It represents the percent volume of moisture in the air at that exact temperature.

For instance, a 100% humidity reading in the middle of winter feels a lot different than 100% in the middle of summer.  Warm air can hold a lot more moisture than cold air. 

When you take a very cold airmass, and then heat it up (as you do in your home), you are taking the minor amount of moisture available and throwing it into a warmer enviroment that can hold a lot more moisture.

So, if the air temp outside is 15° and the dew point is zero, if you bring that air inside and heat it to 70°, the humidity is 6%.

Our bodies feel comfortable when the humidity is roughly half of the air temperature indoors.  So, if you have your heat set at 70°, you want to humidity to be roughly 35%.  Humidifiers that work directly into the furnace work most effectively (room humidifiers run the risk of harboring mold, or creating mold on fabrics or carpets). 

Depending on conditions inside your home, you may want it closer to 30% or 40%.  If moisture forms on the walls, then the humdifier is set too high.  But, once the room is humidified well, you will get rid of the static electricity and dry skin/nasal passages/eyes.  Plus, with a higher humidity, the air will feel much warmer to your skin.

NOAA’s (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) Gulfstream IV aircraft, known for investigating hurricanes, will begin flying over the North Pacific Ocean to fill gaps in atmospheric observations, which will enhance forecasts of winter storms for the entire North American continent through improved computer modeling.

The highly specialized twin turbofan jet will be stationed at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan through February before repositioning to Honolulu in March. From these locations, the aircraft will be tasked by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction — a division of NOAA’s National Weather Service — to fly into data sparse regions to collect information such as wind speed and direction, pressure, temperature and humidity. This data will be sent via satellite to global operational weather forecasting centers — and fed into sophisticated computer forecast models.

 “These flights will help us better observe and understand the current state of the atmosphere over the Pacific, where most of North America’s weather originates, in order to better predict future conditions across the U.S. and Canada three to six days in advance,” said Louis Uccellini, Ph.D., director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Md.

 These computer model improvements will play an essential role in meteorological support for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in addition to more precise precipitation forecasts along the U.S. West Coast and points further east.

 NOAA incorporated the Japan-based missions into its annual Winter Storms Reconnaissance program in early 2009 — flying 332 flight hours and logging miles equivalent to circling the Earth five times. Prior to 2009, missions were flown from Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast. By expanding the reach across the International Date Line to Japan, NOAA is essentially pushing farther upstream to observe areas of interest with greater lead times.

 These missions showed significant positive impact to global numerical weather prediction models, increasing both accuracy and lead times for high-impact weather events.  

The high altitude, high speed NOAA Gulfstream IV is based at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center, located at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.

Snow accumulations will begin to taper off through the course of the day.  Total snow accumulations will end up falling into the 3-5″ range by the storms end.  The very light and fluffy snow will begin to blow and drift this afternoon as a trough of low pressure swings southward through the area bringing gusty northwest winds between 10 and 20 mph.  This will cause roadways, especially in outlying areas to glaze over again with pockets of snow. 

There will be some minor additional accumulations through your Friday as this system departs the area.  Most locations will see just a coating to 1″ of snow.  However, our far eastern counties of Ottawa, Erie, Huron and Sandusky may see an additional 1-3″ with lake enhanced or lake effect snow showers through the afternoon and into the early evening.  Travel farther east into Cleveland will be treacherous with significant lake effect effect snow possibly bringing up to 8″ of fresh snow.