Snowfall Records

[NHpowderhound]

I got into a disagrement with a coworker this past week regarding the incredible rain/snowstorms that hit Northern California last week. He was confident the news reported 70 inches of snow in 2 hours. I dissagreed with him and said perhaps he heard 2 days. I couldnt convince him that 35 inches per hour was a bit unreal, as much as I'd like to see it really happen.
That got me into wondering what the all time world record is for snow falling in a 1 hour period.
Guinness says Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl,Ca recived 189 inches between Feb. 13-19 in 1959.
Mount Rainier,Wa holds the record for 12 month snowfall at (1,224 in) of snow from February 19, 1971 to February 18, 1972. although Mt. Baker, Wa unofficially says it has the record.
I found lots of records in my search but have come up short for a single hour snowfall record.
Any guesses?
((*
*))NHPH

[gores95]

If you are talking in the US then my guess would be somewhere in the Lake Effect Snow belt. I am guessing that somewhere between 5-10" per hour is probably close to the record. Some of those LES dumps are truly legendary. Not sure a regular weather event (even at altitude) could compare to a LES event.

Worldwide perhaps Antarctica???

[LVNLARG]

It snowed 12 inches an hour here for a couple hours last month. I think 35 inches an hour is entirely possible out there with some crazy pacific storm crashing on shore...which did occur last week.

[awf170]

heres a thread about this over at TGR. IMO I dont think the snowfall rate could go over 10 inches in an hour. No way 35
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...nowfall+record

[RIDEr]

I just got back from Tahoe and it was raining up all through the New Year. On the 2nd of January, softball sized snow flakes were falling. I'd love to say I had a great view of them from the mountain, but it was plane... DAMN MOTHER NATURE.

[LVNLARG]

Originally Posted by awf170

heres a thread about this over at TGR. IMO I dont think the snowfall rate could go over 10 inches in an hour. No way 35
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...nowfall+record

We got 12 inches an hour....2 hours in a row....no wind/no drifting....landing on my deck.....shovelled it off...came back 1 hour later...12 more inches. I would have to say the type of snow makes a huge difference too...2 inches of wet compacts the same as 12 inches of fluffy. It likely snowed 100 inches that night if I had measured it every 3 inches and cleared it off...BUT...when the sun got on it the next morning it settled down to about 30 inches. So...that brings the factor of measurement into all this.

[salida]

Originally Posted by LVNLARG

We got 12 inches an hour....2 hours in a row....no wind/no drifting....landing on my deck.....shovelled it off...came back 1 hour later...12 more inches. I would have to say the type of snow makes a huge difference too...2 inches of wet compacts the same as 12 inches of fluffy. It likely snowed 100 inches that night if I had measured it every 3 inches and cleared it off...BUT...when the sun got on it the next morning it settled down to about 30 inches. So...that brings the factor of measurement into all this.

Do you mean centimeters... ? Because its likely youve never been in a 100 inch over night snowstorm, muchless 12 inches an hour.

[LVNLARG]

Originally Posted by salida

Do you mean centimeters... ? Because its likely youve never been in a 100 inch over night snowstorm, muchless 12 inches an hour.

No...I mean inches. We're stuck out in the ocean so when it decides it's gonna dump...it really dumps....which is why I could see something unique coming onshore from the pacific dumping at over 30 inches an hour. We get a 12 hour storm here generally once a year in which the drifts are well over my head and I'm 5 11. The down side to that is it's also not unheard of to get a torrential rain storm the next day which takes it all away.

[LVNLARG]

Originally Posted by salida

Do you mean centimeters... ? Because its likely youve never been in a 100 inch over night snowstorm, muchless 12 inches an hour.

Here's some pics of a storm where we got over 100 CM's of snow which didn't settle due to being so heavy and shut everything down for days. The storm recently where we got 100 INCHES of extremely light fluffy snow (ligher and fluffier than I've ever experienced INCLUDING ALTA) settled in a morning to less than half that creating my quandry of "How do you really measure a snowfalls true quantity".

[blacknblue]

Those wet ocean-driven storms can definitely dump snow (and rain) in a big hurry. However... I'd say 70 inches in 2 hours was a misprint. 70 inches in 2 days sounds about right. I've seen 8 inches in 1 hour at Alta, and I could even believe 12 inches/hour... but 35??? Even when they got 19 feet in Tahoe last year over a couple of days, it never came down at even close to those rates.