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snow fall totals source

6K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  Lawn Lad 
#1 · (Edited)
snow fall totals source??

Looking for a reputable source which documents storm totals in New Jersey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Is this service available through a subscription with the North Jersey Weather Observers?
 
#4 ·
You don't say where in NJ you are so I'll give both links. The first is the Mt. Holly NWS Office which covers South & Central Jersey. The second link is the Upton, NY (NYC) NWS Office and they cover North Jersey. The NY Office doesn't always post storm totals, and if they do it is often many days after the event, so check their site often after storms. Mt Holly usually has them up a day or 2 after the event. They will both usually have a link posted right on the top of their home page, which is what these 2 links are. There is also a private weather service company based at the Morristown Airport that offers a detailed snow report with accumulations for $30.00\event, or a season charge of I believe $200.00. I may not have that link but cmerland does & I'll get him to post it if I can't find it.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/phi/
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/okx/
 
#5 ·
The only problem with the NWS reports, is that they are not "certified". They use spotters to get the totals, and I have found them to be very accurate, but again, they are not certified.

There is a SIMA Member based in Hackettstown that offers the service, as well as ION Weather. Both offer certified reports.

Along that same link BRL posted, I already printed this out:

NEW JERSEY

...BERGEN...
TEANECK 8.5 1030 PM 12/25
MAYWOOD 7.5 1030 PM 12/25
OAKLAND 7.5 1030 PM 12/25
RIDGEWOOD 7.5 1030 PM 12/25
FAIRLAWN 7.2 1030 PM 12/25
RUTHERFORD 7.2 1130 PM 12/25
CLIFFSIDE PARK 7.0 900 PM 12/25
SADDLE BROOK 7.0 1030 PM 12/25
SOUTH HACKENSACK 7.0 1030 PM 12/25
RIVER VALE 6.7 1030 PM 12/25
TETERBORO 6.0 700 AM 12/26
RAMSEY 5.8 1030 PM 12/25
HASBROOK HEIGHTS 5.5 730 PM 12/25
WOODBRIDGE 5.5 730 PM 12/25
FORT LEE 5.0 730 PM 12/25
LODI 5.0 1030 PM 12/25
MIDLAND PARK 5.0 700 AM 12/26
LYNDHURST 4.5 730 PM 12/25
NORTH ARLINGTON 4.5 730 PM 12/25

...ESSEX...
WEST ORANGE 8.2 1100 PM 12/25
BELLEVILLE 7.0 1130 PM 12/25
WEST CALDWELL 6.0 1110 PM 12/25
NEWARK AIRPORT 3.5 1200 AM 12/26

...HUDSON...
HARRISON 4.5 730 PM 12/25
KEARNY 4.5 1130 PM 12/25

...PASSAIC...
WEST MILFORD 11.5 1030 PM 12/25
GREENWOOD LAKE 8.0 700 AM 12/26
LITTLE FALLS 7.2 1100 PM 12/25
WAYNE 6.2 1000 AM 12/26
POMPTON LAKES 5.9 1030 PM 12/25
WANAQUE 5.9 1030 PM 12/25
BLOOMDALE 5.2 830 PM 12/25
HASKELL 5.2 1030 PM 12/25

...UNION...
UNION TOWNSHIP 5.0 730 PM 12/25
CRANFORD 4.6 915 PM 12/25
ELIZABETH 3.3 1015 PM 12/25

THE ABOVE ARE UNOFFICIAL STORM TOTALS FROM THE CHRISTMAS NOR'EASTER
OF 2002 AS BEST DETERMINED ALL AVAILABLE SOURCES. THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON NY THANKS ALL THE VOLUNTEER SPOTTERS,
COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT SUBMITTED INFORMATION
THROUGHOUT THIS MOST COMPLEX STORM. YOUR TIMELY REPORTS WERE GREATLY
APPRECIATED!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taken from this web page:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/okx/PNS122502.txt

~Chuck
 
#6 ·
The NWS will adjust if needed, and certify those totals. However, this process usually takes several months for some reason (our Government at work LOL). You can then purchase the certified climatic reports from the NOAA to have for your records. That doesn't help us with sending out accurate invoices for our storms this year, so the private metoerology companies may be a better option for some, as they will put out their numbers in a more timely manner.
 
#7 ·
Has anyone compared the independent weather reports to the NWS reports and determined if they are accurate even if unofficial, and which appears to be more accurate, most of the time?
 
#9 ·
Just a thought, and it would still require some degree of trust between customer and contractor, but how about a yardstick and a Polaroid camera? Take a snapshot of the depth before you begin to plow. Or better yet, a video--Polaroid film's not cheap and the vidoe could show time and date as well.
 
#10 ·
Usually NJ state Climatoligist office at rutgers is accurate. The only problem is that with the college closed for winter break they still haven't posted the totals for the Dec 25th storm and I was emailed by the contact on thier website and was told that the totals should be posted on Jan 6 or 7 when they return to thier offices. We also use the results for the NOAA as well and try to average the snowfal amounts for the area, biggest kick in the a$$ is we service Union county ( results posted by the Upton NY office) and Middlesex county (results posted by the Mt Holly office in NJ) so we are always bouncing back and forth between services. The State climatoligist office has a weather reporting station in the town our business is based out of it's right next to the prison and looks like a 20' round sphere on a tower about 50' tall. Rumor has it they tell the prisioners that its a global tracking device for tracking prisoners if they escape.
 
#11 ·
Be careful using Rutgers!! Its not just winter break that is a problem, weekends & over nights too. Since there is nobody there taking the measurements, they can be innaccurate. I got burned because I used to use them in my contracts, because I am right next door. One example was the big New Year's storm 1999\2000. We consistently measured 20-22" at our locations 9one of which was 500' from their weather station), but because they didn't take a measurement until someone finally came in days later after the holiday, there had been some melt off and they officially posted 16" there. Any measurements that they aren't using from their own facilities in a few of their campus locations is probably recycled obs gathered from the NWS coop's obs. Maybe you could E-mail that contact & ask where they actually get their numbers from. I don't believe they have many weather stations set up, and they probably work with the NWS network to cover locations where they don't have a site.
 
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