I love snow, but more important, I love honest reporting. Some people may grandstand and exaggerate their totals. others may cut it down to comply with their forecast. However the National Weather Service has strict standards for reporting snow. The question I have raised all morning on TV was how accurate was their report for BWI when they actually lowered the final total?
At Noon, the snow for the date was over 17 inches at BWI. That set the daily record, and added to the record 9 inches for Friday's date, the total was 26.0". Then special statement mentioned 26.5" at BWI from the snow report (see below) at noon. The final statement did have Washington over 30 inches at Dulles, while BWI at 24.8". Still a record but lower than noon. Meanwhile it did snow at a moderate to heavy clip for at least 4 more hours.
I called the NWS office and they did not want to handle the issue until the day crew arrive. I believe that the final tally will go up, but it does raise the important point that measuring snow can vary widely across our region. Perhaps I care too much, but integrity is what makes up professionals. Besides, there are many office pools, and contests such as with the Foot Frecasting team that are hanging on this. Check out the graphics in the slide show that show:
- My final snowcast, which worked out pretty close to the actual results
- Snow around BWI varied from 38" in Elkridge and over 31" in Glen Burnie
- Snow reports from each county in our region.
National Weather Service Snow Report at 12:14 PM:********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************
LOCATION STORM TOTAL TIME/DATE COMMENTS
SNOWFALL OF
/INCHES/ MEASUREMENT
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
...DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA...
1 NNE WASHINGTON 20.0 959 AM 2/06
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 19.5 650 AM 2/06 SPOTTER
MARYLAND
...ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY...
1 NNE CROFTON 26.8 730 AM 2/06 LIQ EQUIV 2.17 COCORAHS
BALT-WASH INTL ARPT 26.5 1159 AM 2/06
1 WNW GREEN HAVEN 26.5 1047 AM 2/06
2 NW RIVA 25.5 830 AM 2/06
National Weather Service Report at 10:30 PM
..PRELIMINARY SUMMARY OF TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALLS EXCEEDED IN
THE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON AREA...
THE 24.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL ESTIMATED TODAY AT
BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT EXCEEDS
THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORD OF 24.4 INCHES FOR
BWI AIRPORT FROM 16-17 FEBRUARY 2003. THIS WOULD ALSO BE THE 2ND
HIGHEST TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL ALL-TIME SNOWFALL FOR BALTIMORE RECORDS
WHICH DATE BACK TO 1871...BEING SECOND ONLY TO THE 26.3 INCHES WHICH
FELL 27-28 JANUARY 1922.
THE 32.4 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORDED TODAY AT DULLES
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXCEEDS THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM RECORD OF
23.2 INCHES ON 7-8 JANUARY 1996.
