April 21, 2020
Apr 21(Tues)
A round of storms mid to late morning. This featured thunder, lightning, snow, soft hail, wind…the ground was whitened. Then windy and chilly with clouds n sun most of the day, some late day flurries in spots.
Bittinger 2nw Valley
Snowfall season to date 71.5″
Garrett College
Canaan Heights/Davis 3SE
Precip T
Snowfall T
Snowfall season to date 97.7
Comments by Dave Lesher at;
Brief heavy thunder snowquall at 1215PM that whitened the ground. |
Climate Reference Network Canaan
Cabin Mt at Bald Knob
Cabin Mt-Western Sods
Spruce Knob
Snowshoe
Canaan Valley Refuge
7Springs
Cumberland Airport
The Valley vs Cabin Mt
Canaan area temps
Comparison view
Satellite
Flow
Surface features and 500mb height anomalies and flow
Allegheny Mountains Weather 
Question: what are the elevations for the daily weather conditions reported at Spruce Knob, Snowshoe, and 7 Springs.
Thanks, I very much enjoy the daily updates. A wonderful part of the country my wife and I discovered around Memorial Day last year.
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Hi Dave,
The Spruce Knob station is at 4820′. I can vouch for quality and siting of this this station. I’ve been involved in the Virginia Tech project with the stations. Also can vouch for high quality of temp data. This site is not sited though to get the greatest wind data. Forest service is a bit restrictive on location, but getting it in above 4800 was great.
Bald Knob on Cabin Mt, Cabin Mt/Sods, Canaan Refuge site are all Vtech sites. They also have one on Bald Knob near Blacksburg and another at Grayson Highlands.
The Snowshoe site. I compared data from a few stations there vs Spruce Knob . It is a private station listed on Weatherunderground. So, there always is some uncertainty with private stations as far as site location, placement, etc. After viewing awhile, you can get a sense if its good or bogus. There have been other stations I listed in the past, I’ve stopped because there was obvious artificial influences on data, that likely was from poor site location. 7Springs is another private. It is on top, listed at 2972′. Its more than likely a +/- of 50′ of that elevation. Weatherunderground doesnt always register the exact elevation. Private stations can be great, but always some uncertainty without knowing 100% what you’re dealing with.
My site at Bittinger, is a hobo sensor, data logger in a NWS mmts shelter. Specs on that is a little better than what is issued by the NWS to their coop observers.
I really need to go and update the about section on the page. I do have a lot of these listings there. But not all. And a lot of the links to other sites I have listed have changed. You’ll find the about section as 3 dashed lines, left hand side above the daily data.
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Thanks for your help. It looks like the Snowshoe observations are at the top of the mountain, around 4,820 ft. When I look at Weather Underground personal weather stations I pretty much ignore the wind data due to measurement problems. I’m fascinated by your reporting because it covers such a wide range in elevations from Cumberland Md to Spruce Knob and Snowshoe. Also, the nature of the mountain geology is so different from the North Carolina mountains I’m familiar with. We’re essentially all Blue Ridge irregular mountains with wind gaps due to granite rock. I like looking at the ridge and valley in your area with water gaps in some places and the folded linear ridges. Also, temperatures average 5 degrees lower than our NW NC mountains at same elevations due to latitude and maybe 7 degrees lower than SW NC. Our mountains had very little snow this winter as storm tracks favored you more northerly latitudes and maybe lake effect.
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Yeah the Snowshoe site is KWVSNOWS15.
I wish I had time to add a few more locations. I wanted to add a few low elevations just for the contrast. I need to add Morgatown, Elkins, and then maybe a location east of Snowshoe and the Sods(Moorefield etc), and up in Pa around Blue Knob. I have inquired to several locations, including Penn State about a station on Mt.Davis. Being Pennsylvanias high point, I thought it may catch some interest.
Its a bit a guess with obs when adding a private site. I’m kind of reluctant to do so without knowing the station, site. WU does have some metadata but not as much as I’d like. Hoping Vtech is able to get in another station or 2 this year. We are shooting for a high bog near 4000′.
It all though is time consuming. For the past few months, it’s all manual tallying. I consume a few hours each evening on it. Labor of love.
We too had a low snow year vs our normal. 30-50″ behind, but its definetly not been winter less.
I’ve only been in the NC mts a few times. Up on Grandfather a couple times, Mt.Mitchell, Clingmans Dome.. Beautiful beautiful area! Love it. I’d like to catch one of those May snows from a cold core system that just sits over th at area a day or 2.
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Yep, I think Mt. Mitchell or LeConte got around 50 inches of snow during the Superstorm of the Century. Grandfather Mountain is primarily known for winds that rivals Mt. Washington.
Keep up the good work.
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