How many inches of snow can one inch of rain make?

Question

I have co workers from India who have never seen snow and they have lots of questions.

Answer 1

6.25 average ( varies with temp )

Answer 2

Meteorologists developed a rule of thumb years ago that said ten inches (25 cm) of snow would melt down to 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water (or be the equivalent amount of rain if it fell as liquid), and that proportion was often used to determine the amount of equivalent precipitation from a snowfall. But that 10:1 ratio, we now know, is far from exact, and generally wrong across the breadth of conditions under which snow falls, even within an individual storm.

Answer 3

It depends on how cold it is which determines how fluffy or dense the snow can be. You can get from 4" to 15" with lower temperatures making more snow depth. Think of ten inches as average.

This is really timely here in the northeast where we are having a late nor-easter blizzard that will vary between snow and rain.

Answer 4

The general answer is 10 inches of snow for an inch of rain. It depends on the temperature. On a very cold day it can be up to 20 inches of powdered fluff. On a warmer day, 2 or 3 inches of slush.

Answer 5

7

Answer 6

For the most part people use a ratio of 1 inch of rtain equals 10 inces of snow.

A: The most commonly used ratio is that 10 inches of melted snow is equivalent 1 inch of rain. However,

Answer 7

varies widely.
There are ski areas in utah (such as Alta) that claim the lightest, fluffiest powder at nearly 20" of snow per 1" of water. 10" is more common, and heavy wet snow may be just 4" or so.

Easy enough to measure. Fill 10 inches of snow up in a bucket and take it inside. You'll know tomorrow exactly.

Answer 8

15 inchs of snow would make 1 inch of rain

Answer 9

7" of snow for every 1" of rain depending on humidity levels...

Answer 10

Bad question. Turn it around and it works but requires more information.