Winter Alert!

Winter Precipitation will be arriving in places that are not accustomed to measuring snow.  Please keep safety your number one priority. Check your local National Weather Service office web page to keep abreast of latest forecasts, watches, and warnings for your local area.

Measuring snow can get tricky, and although you can "keep it simple" by only reporting what falls into your gauge, there are still a couple of important things to know.

--- BRING YOUR FUNNEL AND INNER MEASURING TUBE INSIDE

Here are the basics for reporting your "Gauge Catch" when it snows:

1. Remove the funnel and center tube and place them by your kitchen sink, and leave the large cylinder mounted outside to receive any and all precipitation that falls.
2. When it is time to measure - bring the snow-filled gauge inside and let it melt.
   *Watch this short, animated video for how to do it quickly by adding pre-measured warm water using your inner tube*
3. Once melted you can carefully pour the water into the inner tube using the funnel - making sure to subtract any amount of warm water that was added.
4. Enter this amount in same place on the data entry form where you enter your rainfall amount - called "Gauge Catch".
5. If you experience freezing rain (click here to read about the differences between frozen precipitation types and freezing rain), still follow the procedure above, but also report the thickness of the ice in your comments.  Make sure to only melt and measure the ice that freezes on the inside of the gauge.
6. Optional reporting of freezing rain can be found in the left-hand menu of your data entry page or click here to access more information including a link to enter an ice accretion impact report. Here, the training guide goes over how to report the thickness of the ice, but if you only have impacts to report, and photos, you can use the links or QR code to submit a report from your smartphone.
   

More resources:

• Slideshow
• CoCoRaHS Snow Training Animations on YouTube
• Tip Sheet on what to measure and where to report it on the form