Disputed DC snow measure triggers review

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Measuring snowfall may not be as simple as it sounds.

Over the weekend, as a blizzard pounded the East Coast, a suspiciously low snowfall total came from a prominent place: Reagan National Airport just outside Washington.

While most readings in Washington neared 2 feet, the airport topped out at just 17.8 inches. So what happened? According to one report, weather professionals lost a wooden board they use to measure snow. But it may also just be warmer at Reagan.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman says officials will launch a review of snow-measurement procedures to find out what happened.

“Questions were raised about the reading, and we want to better understand what happened and why,” NOAA spokeswoman Susan Buchanan said in an email Monday.

The federal agency oversees the National Weather Service, which trains volunteers to calculate snowfall amounts in places where professionals don’t do it. Major airport weather stations are professionally maintained, primarily through the weather service or the Federal Aviation Administration.