One of the few things Prairie dwellers take pleasure in during a long, bitter winter is complaining about how very long and bitter it is.
It’s no surprise that the weather page is of interest to subscribers, who are quick to call with questions or complaints.
These are the questions we’re most often asked :
Why do you list this little town and not mine?
A location we use must be part of a network of coverage, and have quick, reliable reporting methods.
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It must have an automatic reporting station, rather than a volunteer-run location. (Although accurate, volunteer centres take too long to report data.)
How do you measure precipitation?
In the summer, sites are equipped with machines called tipping bucket gauges, which automatically measure and record rainfall each hour.
In the winter, sites are equipped with machines called Fisher & Porter weighing gauges. Snow falls into a reservoir that looks like a big cream can, and is melted with antifreeze. A computer then records the amount of water equivalent. A general rule is that a centimetre of snowfall equals a millimetre of water. This can be thrown off if the snowflakes are large and wet, or if the snow is especially dry.
Precipitation numbers for the town close to my farm don’t match what I have here. Why?
Weather systems can be very small. Even points only a few kilometres apart can have differing precipitation totals. Over time the totals tend to even out, but from week to week, information can differ by as much as 60 percent from the nearest reporting station. There is also the possibility of machine error, especially in the winter, when winds can cause the gauges to malfunction.
Environment Canada and our weather-information provider, AccuWeather, check any suspicious numbers and make corrections later in the week. We carry the updated totals in subsequent issues.
