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Northern Plains Winter Storm Conference: 24-25 Oct 2007 in Saint Cloud!

Snow to Liquid Ratio

Coming: Jacob Yurek's Senior Research Project for KMSP

Coming: My comments on this topic

Surface temperature	850 mb temperature	Weisman's Very Rough Empirical Snow-to-Liquid Ratio (will vary by synoptic conditions)
T >34°F	Snow won't accumulate
32-34°F	-3 to 0°C	5-8: 1
28-32°F	-4 to 0°C	6:10-1
23-29°F	-8 to -4°C	12-15:1
18-22°F	-12 to -8°C	18-20:1
10-17°F	-19 to -12°C	18-25:1
Surface T <= 10°F	850 T < -19°C	25-30:1 or greater

Links:

• Empirical Forecast Rules for Precipitation Type, Snow-to-Liquid Ratio by Norman Junker, NWS Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
• National Mean Snow-to-liquid ratio by Marty Baxter, Saint Louis University
  • Supporting M.S. Thesis
• Model-based probability of snow-to-liquid ratio, by Paul Roebber, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  • Supporting article: Roebber, P. J., S. L. Bruening, D. W. Schultz, and J. V. Cortinas, Jr., April 2003: Improving snowfall forecasting by diagnosing snow density, Wea. Forecasting, 18, pp.264-287.
• NWS Conversion Table from NWS Davenport, IA (discredited but biases observations)

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Last updated: Sunday, February 20, 2005 5:44 AM
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