Snow to rain ratio: What's the rain equivalent of 10 inches of snow?

Question

There seems to be no agreement on; past answers to the question are in the "it depends" category.

Answer 1

DEPENDING ON THE MOISTURE IN THE SNOW, A RULE OF THUMB IS 12 INCHES OF SNOW = 1INCH OF WATER

Answer 2

Typically, one inch of rain equals ten inches of snow under certain conditions. There is no exact ratio, so the "it depends" answers are fairly correct.

Temperature and dewpoint also determine the rain/snow ratio...in fact if temperatures are low enough, the ratio could be 20" of snow to one inch of rain. And if the temperature is close to the freezing mark, it could be 5" snow to 1" rain. The ratio varies depending on other factors.

Answer 3

It does depend on the snow you are talking about. Light, fluffy snow, like lake effect snow can take about a foot of accumulation to make an inch of water, but heavy, wet, wind driven snow can take as little as 2 or 3 inches to make an inch of water.

Answer 4

10 inches of snow is equal to 10 feet of water.

1 inch of rain is equal to 12 inches of snow.

Answer 5

10 inches of wet snow = 1 inch of rain
12 inches of dry snow = 1 inch of rain

Answer 6

Rain Snow Ratio

Answer 7

10" of water then