Well, maybe I am jumping the gun, but I thought that I would start watching the videos and reading the training material on snow measurements for CoCoRaHS. I already have the nice aluminum snow stick from last year, but I ordered an extra outside cylinder to swap out while it is snowing at observation time.
Yep... definitely valuable... incidentally, be careful removing the outer cyl.. or you'll be stocking and extra mounting bracket, also...
I thought that the "snow swatter" was just a gag gift kind of thing on Weather Your Way. From the training material, I see that it has a real purpose in dealing with snow caught on the rim of the gauge. I am sure that a dollar store fly swatter is the same, but is this what people typically use for this situation?
Well, I sorta just use my fingers... but no, it's not a gag, especially for areas with intense snowfall.. remember, that's a measurement of what's in the cylinder, not the actual snowfall or depth... below...
I see that I need to prepare a "snow board", I'll do that in the near future. Seems straightforward enough.
Yeah.. Now, you need several, so you can take several measurements.. unless you're lucky like me.. I've got one spot that I've determined over the years shows a very respectable 'average',.. and I tend to use that most of the time... however, I do not recommend that for areas with a lot of snow.
I am going to try to build a "melting chamber" with a small heat pad lining a larger diameter PVC pipe that the gauge will fit into. We'll see how that goes. I might have to stick with the tried-and-true "add warm water" method.
Been there, done that...
Ain't worth the trouble....
The other question was about using the swatter to hold the snow core from falling out when its upside down. Is this the best method, or would something else work better?
Best way I've found is with a piece of thin stiff plastic, like part of a vinyl folder, which is what I use... since I don't have a swatter,...
Mike