How do they record snowfall?
We record it by entering the amounts in an electronic database and/or on a paper form. If you meant how snowfall is measured, there are various ways. It is notoriously difficult to get an exact measurement due to factors such as melting, compacting and blowing/drifting of the snow. Snowfall is basically estimated in various ways, such as melting the snow caught in a gage and applying a multiplication factor based on temperature (snow does not always accumulate in the classic 10 to 1 ratio, but can be over 40 to 1 in very dry snow cases). Taking multiple measurements over an area and averaging them is a way to determine snow depth. In remote areas such as mountains sensors known as SNOTELS estimate snowfall by how much weight it detects. It is not an exact science by any means.
