Want To Track How Much Snow Falls? Watch This

How does the National Weather Service actually measure how much snow has fallen during a snowstorm?

How do they figure out what the water content of that snowfall is?

A video shared by the service’s Mount Holly office gives insight into the technical process involved, and how trained observers measure the snowfall during events such as this weekend’s coming nor’easter, which is predicted to drop anywhere from 8 to 12 inches at the Jersey Shore.

If you want to get a rough idea of how much snow falls, this will give you a starting point if you want to measure in your yard.

“There may not always be a perfect spot to measure snow and we understand this,” officials from the Mount Holly office said in response to questions on the Facebook post of the video. “The purpose of this video is to help find a baseline whereas all can to some degree provide good readings to us. We value each piece of information coming in and evaluate it. While it may not end up in a public information statement, it will be a part of the overall storm snowfall database for each event. Thank you for making a sincere effort to get the best reading that you can. We do appreciate it!”