Posted on 11/18/2022 2:02:54 PM PST by Libloather
It's one thing to say it snowed more than 3 feet. It's another when you think about how much that weighs.
Upstate New York, especially Buffalo and Watertown, is getting hammered by a potentially historic winter storm dumping more than 3 feet on spots -- and barely anything on others a few miles away. How does that work?
Well, that's lake-effect snow for you. Learn how it forms and more about that weather phenomenon here.
**SNIP**
Old snow is even heavier. We crunched some numbers using estimates of snow weights and vehicles from various sources. Check out the equivalents of the average weight of a foot and more of snow (and old snow) on your roof.
Average weight of 12" of fresh snow on a roof: 7,000 pounds = 2 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 24" of fresh snow on a roof: 15,000 pounds = 4 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 36" of fresh snow on a roof: 22,000 pounds = 6 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 48" of fresh snow on a roof: 30,000 pounds = 9 compact SUVs parked on the roof
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
We call them snow rakes in Ohio. And yes it’s a good idea to scrape down your roof after a heavy snow, not least because all the melting from roof heat under the snow layer turns to ice in the eaves and wrecks your shingles.
Yep. “Snow cars.”
Actually, the water content of the snow makes a big difference.
Lake effect can be very light and fluffy and easy to shovel. It can often have a water equivalent of 20:1. Twenty inches of snow that melts down to 1 inch of water.
Snow from nor’easters can have a much higher water content, like 8:1, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you have to shovel it.
If you have sleet and freezing rain and snow mixes, it can be 3:1 or 4:1, which is basically shoveling slush.
Guessing you are not a skier. Ever hear of powder?
Steep roofs help, but so do metal ones.
With metal roofs, the snow slides off under its own weight.
There are LOTS of houses here in NH that have metal roofs.
Laker snow is fluff that packs down in a day or two to 1/2 to 1/3 of what it starts out as.
So we get 4 ft of lake is actually around 18 - 24 inches.
3 ft of lake = 1 ft of nor’easter snow is the general rule.
I’ve lived in Buffalo or Syracuse all of my life.
One guy isn’t even wearing a coat!
Tough stuff. Nice.
right? better than the alternative...
Orchard Park, NY, had 66” recorded as of 7 pm EST, 11/18/2022. Depending on exactly how the bands move around, it appears they could total 7’ by Sunday.
As discussed, this is fairly fluffy snow, and it looks like winds will gust to around 35 mph this weekend. I imagine the drifts will be impressive...
Nope.
Lake affect?
In our case, Arctic Blast Effect down from Canada.
But, powder snow is powder snow.
I haven't seen Saint Greta address this climate change....
snowfront, o hell yeah...
right? she’s welcome to come shovel...
LOL, okay.
Nevermind that multiple posters explained it to you,
They don’t seem to be too concerned about slip-sliding off the roof!
Best match of snowfall amount to liquid equivalent I could find (ie., with the recorded time lining up) is at Boston Airport, which at 6:00 today am had recorded 16.1” of snow (they’ve been a bit north of most of the heaviest persistent bands) and at 6:54 am today had accumulated 1.41” (melted). Best I can tell the precip quit (for now) right around 6 am. So... that’s a ratio of 11.42, which seems just a bit above average to me.
Areas like Orchard Park (66” as of 7 pm last night) got more thunder snow, I guess? All the “thunder snow” I’ve experienced (not near a large lake) was wet, but then I don’t live by a large lake. I’d think the issue with dry snow and the predicted winds for the weekend would be some pretty large drifts. When I lived in Kansas as a kid, a foot of snow with a strong Kansas wind behind it could make drifts easily 5-6 ft. high.
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