{"id":1386053,"date":"2019-01-28T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=964731"},"modified":"2019-01-28T11:00:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:00:16","slug":"national-weather-service-developing-new-tool-to-track-snow-ice-severity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/local-news\/national-weather-service-developing-new-tool-to-track-snow-ice-severity\/","title":{"rendered":"National Weather Service developing new tool to track snow, ice severity"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"325\" height=\"254\" src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather.png\" class=\"attachment-medium-large size-medium-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather.png 325w, https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather-150x117.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>As winter storms have rolled across the United States, National Weather Service is rolling out a new tool \u2014 the\u00a0Winter Storm Severity Index (WSSI) \u2014 that aims to provide an indication of the level of winter precipitation severity and societal impacts.<\/p>\n<p>Currently,\u00a0winter weather watches, warnings, and advisories are raised based primarily on &#8220;yes\/no&#8221; thresholds of accumulation generally at the level of individual counties, stated Project Lead Andy Nash of NWS in Burlington, Vermont in his Guide for Users.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reality is that severity and impacts from winter weather are due to more than just amounts\u00a0 \u2014 one five-inch snowstorm is not like the next five-inch snowstorm \u2014 additionally, there can be great variation in weather conditions frequently within individual counties,&#8221; he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, WSSI seeks to combine multiple types of data.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Snow amount: Severity due to the total amount of snow or rate of snowfall accumulation with adjustments made based on climatology and urban areas. For example, four inches of snow in Atlanta is more severe than four inches in Minneapolis.<\/li>\n<li>Snow load: Severity due to the total weight of snow on trees and power lines<\/li>\n<li>Blowing snow: Severity of impacts, mainly to transportation, due to blowing and drifting snow<\/li>\n<li>Ice accumulation: Severity of impacts to transportation and downed trees and\/or power lines due to the accumulated ice in combination with wind<\/li>\n<li>Flash freeze: Severity of impacts, primarily to transportation, in situations where temperatures rapidly fall below freezing during precipitation<\/li>\n<li>Ground blizzard: Severity of impacts, mainly to transportation, of ground blizzards that develop due to a pre-existing snowpack and strong winds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Conditions, when mapped, are given a severity rating and color from none (gray) to extreme (deep red) on a temperature map. Clicking on points of interest allows the user to understand more localized conditions based on the above types of conditions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/national-weather-service-developing-new-tool-to-track-snow-ice-severity\/attachment\/national-weather2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-964733\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-964733\" src=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather2-325x236.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather2-325x236.png 325w, https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather2-150x109.png 150w, https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather2-620x451.png 620w, https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/national-weather2.png 964w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In one example\u00a0of how to interpret the data, the WSSI maps a storm impacting Wyoming and Colorado showing &#8220;major&#8221; to &#8220;extreme&#8221; severity in southeast Wyoming and &#8220;limited&#8221; around Denver.<\/p>\n<p>The forecast\u00a0data shows &#8220;snow amount&#8221; around Denver, so snow is the primary aspect of the winter weather. Whereas for Wyoming &#8220;ground blizzard&#8221; is the primary aspect there.<\/p>\n<p>The final interpretation is to expect quite severe ground blizzard conditions in southeast Wyoming while Denver will experience snow that won&#8217;t disrupt daily life.<\/p>\n<p>The new system is available by visiting the\u00a0WSSI Project website\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/wwd\/wssi\">wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\/wwd\/wssi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The WSSI does not depict official warnings and should be used in context with official NWS forecasts and warnings.<\/p>\n<p>As an experimental product, it may not update in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n<div id=\"single-content\">\n<p><em>Contact Sasha Nelson at 970-875-1794 or\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"mailto:snelson@CraigDailyPress.com\">snelson@CraigDailyPress.com<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"single-social-footer\">\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox\">\n<div class=\"custom-images\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/national-weather-service-developing-new-tool-to-track-snow-ice-severity\/\" target=\"_blank\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As winter storms have rolled across the United States, National Weather Service is rolling out a new tool \u2014 the\u00a0Winter Storm Severity Index (WSSI) \u2014 that aims to provide an indication of the level of winter precipitation severity and societal impacts. Currently,\u00a0winter weather watches, warnings, and advisories are raised based primarily on &#8220;yes\/no&#8221; thresholds of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1386053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-01 01:00:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KKCH - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}