But if that’s not possible, he places a Plexiglas sheet on top of his plywood squares and measures up from them, averaging out the counts, of course. The most accurate method involves clearing away the accumulation from the test spots, said Mr. But how, exactly, do you measure new snow on top of old snow? With a chance of more snow over the next several days, he’s ready to head outside again. He heats the snow and collects the water in a 2 1/2-inch plastic tube.

To determine the water content, he pulls the eight-inch aluminum tube from his rain measuring device and takes a core sample. “But an Alberta Clipper, which comes down from Canada, is dry because it has no opportunity to pick up water.” “A coastal storm will not only pull down cold air from the north, it will draw moisture from the south and the snow will be very, very heavy because of the water content,” he said. The rule of thumb is one inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow, but there are wide variations in that ratio.

He determined that the snow earlier this week measured 3.3 inches - on his property, anyway.Īt times, he’ll take it a step further and measure the snow’s water content. When snow depth at all 10 spots is measured to within a 10th of an inch, the average provides a measurement as close to accurate as you can get, Mr. He does employ a yardstick, but only within the square. They’re not heavy enough to compress the snow and they’re painted white to reflect sunlight and prevent melting, but their purpose is to create an even, solid surface. At each spot, a plywood square, 24 inches on a side, sits on the snow. Llewellyn established 10 separate measuring spots in a curving trail from his front to back yards. Last year’s unseasonably warm winter offered no opportunity to set us straight. And as a cooperative observer of things meteorological for the National Weather Service, he insists on doing things right - a point he made in early 2011 after The Suffolk Times ran a photo of a yardstick in a snowbank. Who says? Lenny Llewellyn of Mattituck, that’s who. Want to know how much snow fell in your yard? Don’t just poke a yardstick through it. TIM KELLY PHOTO | Lenny Llewellyn demonstrates snow-measuring equipment at his Mattituck home. Share via email Mail Created with Sketch.Share on Twitter Twitter Created with Sketch.Share on Facebook Facebook Created with Sketch.

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