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Title:

The Hotplate Snow Gauge

Abstract:

A winter weather nowcasting system called the Weather Support to Deicing Decision Making (WSDDM) system has been developed that includes real-time weighing snowgauges as a key component. These types of gauges essentially weigh the snow as it falls into a bucket filled with a glycol based chemical and a thin layer of oil to prevent evaporation. Wind shields are also required to be used with these snow gauges in order to prevent undercatch of snowfall due to wind impacting the gauge itself. In order to adapt this gauge for real-time use, a temperature controlled heat tape was added on the collar of the gauge to prevent snow build up on the collar. While effective, these gauges typically require a wind shield to increase the catch, a regular re-charge of the collection bucket with fresh glycol and oil, and report snowfall rates that are averages over 5 to 10 minutes due to the accumulation nature of the gauge. This paper presents a new snowgauge, called the "hotplate snowgauge" which provides a reliable, low maintenance method to measure snowfall rate every minute without the use of a wind shield.

Source(s):

American Meteorological Society, 13th Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation; National Center for Atmospheric Research, Desert Research Institute and Yankee Environmental

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/94403.pdf

Date: 2006

Author:

Rasmussen, et al

Keywords:


Environmental Sensor Station (ESS)
Precipitation

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