Rain, rain and more rain
Nov 17, 2015
Rain…Rain…and more Rain. Wet and gloomy has been the story for the past two days, as it will continue through the evening and into tomorrow. Looks like we are expecting another 0.25-0.5 inches or so by the end of the day Wednesday Nov 18.Check out the rainfall totals from a sample of stations.
| Station | November 16 | November 17 | Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Lake Substation WHE | 0.35 | 0.51 | 1.01 |
| Lake Caroline | 0.5 | 0.69 | 1.73 |
| HCEM Medina | 0.46 | 0.81 | 2.46 |
| Hanover Fire Dept | 0.32 | 0.97 | 2.39 |
| Excelsior Fire Dept | 0.57 | 1.28 | 3.69 |
Wondering what this would look like if all of this rain were snow? Well, in general for this part of Minnesota you can use a 10:1 ratio of snow to rain. So for every 1 inch of rain, we would have 10 inches of snow. Let’s re-look at that table with fictitious snow totals using 10:1 ratio:
| Station | November 16 if snow | November 17 if snow | Monthly Snow Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Lake Substation WHE | 3.5 inches of snow | 5.1 inches of snow | 10.1 inches of snow |
| Lake Caroline | 5 inches of snow | 6.9 inches of snow | 17.3 inches of snow |
| HCEM Medina | 4.6 inches of snow | 8.1 inches of snow | 24.6 inches of snow |
| Hanover Fire Dept | 3.2 inches of snow | 9.7 inches of snow | 23.9 inches of snow |
| Excelsior Fire Dept | 5.7 inches of snow | 12.8 inches of snow | 36.9 inches of snow |
Now, the snowfall ratio can be as low as 2:1 or as high as 15:1 – it all depends on how wet or dry the snow is BUT 10:1 is a good ‘typical’ ratio for this part of Minnesota. So ask yourself, is the gloom of rain better than 2 feet of snow?