Precipitation History

CatDaddy

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I'm turning to the NDA community for meteorologic expertise.

Where do you guys go to find historical snow and rain totals? And by historical, I mean "yesterday", not 40 years ago.

It seems local weather reports seem to leave out how much snow we got in the storm they've predicted for the week ahead of the storm. For example: "Fargo to see 1-5" of snow tomorrow". Then nothing to confirm whether we got 1" or 20".

TIA
 


CatDaddy

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Thanks Auggie.....very interested in snow though. I understand it's not easy to measure.....but then, how can they predict how much we're going to get?
 

Slappy

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weather.gov

Click on "past weather" on far right side of page above the national map.
 

CatDaddy

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weather.gov

Click on "past weather" on far right side of page above the national map.

Appears like I can see past snowfall amounts with a few extra clicks...Thanks Slappy!

Interested to see if anyone else has something as their "go to" that's more straightforward......
 
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shorthairsrus

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I'd suggest starting here:

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=fgf


Play around on the above, and if you have a specific place in mind that you can't find there, just let me know. There may be other sources of info.

Can i ask in your opinion allan based on the precip so far what is your thoughts on the big gal sak this summer. I just booked my 1st lag to fish her
 


guywhofishes

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I'm turning to the NDA community for meteorologic expertise.

Where do you guys go to find historical snow and rain totals? And by historical, I mean "yesterday", not 40 years ago.

It seems local weather reports seem to leave out how much snow we got in the storm they've predicted for the week ahead of the storm. For example: "Fargo to see 1-5" of snow tomorrow". Then nothing to confirm whether we got 1" or 20".

TIA

LOL. This seems to be the way they operate these days.

Coincidence? I don't think so. If you have to search around for the totals - then they're rarely wrong in their forecast.
 

Allen

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LOL. This seems to be the way they operate these days.

Coincidence? I don't think so. If you have to search around for the totals - then they're rarely wrong in their forecast.


What kind of govt conspiracy/coverup, BS is this? Near as I can tell, all three NWS offices that operate in our area (Grand Forks, Bismarck, and Aberdeen) routinely put out a list of precip totals after major events on their respective Facebook pages. I don't think they necessarily do this if they are expecting, and actually receive 1-2 inches of snow, but I know damn well they routinely do if there are forecasts for 4+ inches.

For example, back in December we had a pretty good snow event take place just after Christmas. And here's the FB snow total list the Bismarck office of the National Weather Service put out: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=225661889748577&set=a.187160793598687

Oddly enough, just the day before they had this forecast out: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=225055653142534&set=a.187160793598687


Just because I don't get the forecasts and end results emailed to me doesn't mean the forecasters are hiding it from me.

- - - Updated - - -

Can i ask in your opinion allan based on the precip so far what is your thoughts on the big gal sak this summer. I just booked my 1st lag to fish her

I'll be honest and tell you that I only casually pay attention to mountain snowpack until around Feb 1st. That's when they are usually at about the halfway point for their snow accumulation. That being said, for this early in the season they are roughly on track for a near normal snowpack, with something slightly above normal expectations going forward. In ND we currently have a slightly above normal snowpack in place if you were to be east of a line drawn from roughly Bowbells down through New Town and then on over to Bismarck. West of that line they are roughly normal to maybe below normal with the extreme NW and SW corners being the driest.

As far as Sak and Oahe, both are expected to be somewhere between 8-12 ft below their desired starting point prior to spring runoff commencement. This would suggest the big 3 (Peck included) are going to be below normal come time we all want to be heading out to the boat ramps. The plains of MT and western ND would need a lot more snow to really change that. On the plus side, Feb is looking to be cold and snowy based on the outlooks, so there is at least a glimmer of hope in receiving an above normal runoff that will boost water levels a little closer to normal, but it's really only a glimmer at this point. Ask me again come mid-Feb.
 

guywhofishes

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"What kind of govt conspiracy/coverup, BS is this?"

lol - I figured you'd maybe pounce due to misinterpretation of my intent - or you're just jerking my chain for fun

I think the OP (and I) were wondering why we have to go digging at gov't web sites etc. - usually several clicks down and into the menu

and "they routinely publish on Facebook" is fine - but it's quite random and sporadic in case you didn't notice. I love it when they do - but it'd be awfully handy to have that info conveniently when you want it - not wait for them and hope to get lucky and they post it. How is that an effective solution to the OP's desires?

Why don't the easy-to-use weather apps (available through local weather stations, Weather.com, etc.) not provide this type of information conveniently? I wasn't talking national weather service web sites best viewed on PC and practically requiring a manual/diary to remember how to get to the data you want.

When I grew up snow totals announced the next day seemed ubiquitous. Maybe it's selective memory.
 

Allen

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I think the OP (and I) were wondering why we have to go digging at gov't web sites etc. - usually several clicks down and into the menu


I think the problem here is one of data quantity. For everyone who wants simple snow total from yesterday, there's also someone interested in morning dew points, temps at a given hour of the day, high temps, low temps, daily change in temps, when's the last time it sleeted, well...you get the point. Then the actual forecast and any Watches or Warnings get shuffled off into the abyss known as the internet even though the NWS' main mission is to provide forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property while enhancing the economy.

Truth be told, I'm somewhat surprised the NWS does as much as it does in record keeping when that is the mission of the old NCDC (National Climatic Data Center), now called NCEI (National Center for Environmental Information). They are the final warehouse for all things climate, which includes yesterday's weather.

And yes, I knew you were putting out a pile of corn when I saw this originally. Like most critters, I just can't resist a free meal.

- - - Updated - - -

"When I grew up snow totals announced the next day seemed ubiquitous. Maybe it's selective memory."

p.s. You also know that those snow reports are the result of the general public calling in to provide measurements, right? The NWS only has two offices in the state, Bismarck and Grand Forks. Outside of those two locations, they are at the mercy of your friends and neighbors calling in snow reports. Many are trained observers, but they aren't paid for their efforts, so getting timely reports is a known limitation. The official Cooperative Observers don't actually have to report but once a month, usually between the 1st and 5th of the following month they send in their reports.

Back when you and I were young, the average farm size was probably right around 1,000 acres. Nowadays that is probably well north of 5,000 ac, so population density in the ag community is falling and they tend to be some of the most diligent weather watchers. So that isn't helping much either nowadays.
 
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Davey Crockett

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guywhofishes

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You also know that those snow reports are the result of the general public calling in to provide measurements, right?

Yes - I moved from under a rock into a home with radio, internet, and TV in 2014. I see NWS requesting reports from John Q on FB too. Snow accumulation is often heterogeneously distributed so I get why they need human reports.

I kid you not - I have spent many minutes trying to figure out how much snow FARGO got "last night" in the past - and finally said screw it and gave up.

This is due to having forgot what web site you and others have mentioned on NDA before - and what buttons/options to select. And I'm not exactly a rube when it comes to searching and navigating web sites. The local morning weatherman always used to mention the recent snow - those days are gone (in Fargo anyway). About 20% of the time they'll mention it. Thus my conspiracy theory about why they (main stream media) changed their ways.

I've even saved shortcuts in the past only to have the web site redesigned months later - so it's a dead link that redirects me back to the home page. At my age - I'm done with pulling data - I want it pushed to me damnit! :D
 

espringers

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ventusky is a wonderful site. sadly they started charging an annual fee of like $3 for the upgraded app. which i gladly paid. then let lapse.
 

CatDaddy

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I kid you not - I have spent many minutes trying to figure out how much snow FARGO got "last night" in the past - and finally said screw it and gave up.

This is due to having forgot what web site you and others have mentioned on NDA before - and what buttons/options to select. And I'm not exactly a rube when it comes to searching and navigating web sites. The local morning weatherman always used to mention the recent snow - those days are gone (in Fargo anyway). About 20% of the time they'll mention it. Thus my conspiracy theory about why they (main stream media) changed their ways.

I've even saved shortcuts in the past only to have the web site redesigned months later - so it's a dead link that redirects me back to the home page. At my age - I'm done with pulling data - I want it pushed to me damnit! :D

You summed up my frustration exactly!

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Looks like I'll have a chance to test them tomorrow!
 

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