12-21-17 Paradise telemetry

Thanks for your efforts on this, Amar!  I would not have started this thread without the now-gone "artificially lowered 30" telemetry header coinciding with the snowplay delay press release.

NPS rank & file employees continue to do a great job for the most part, but also continue to rate their own top-heavy management among the worst in the federal government:
bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/detail/IN10#tab_category_tbl
www.eenews.net/stories/1060038401

I think the lack of NPS transparency and accountability will likely not improve.  The real reason for the Rump administration's large number of federal management vacancies, including NPS Director, is to allow their 'transition' officials from the Heritage Foundation to act as unconfirmed, unseen political commissars enforcing ideological conformity.

Edit to add '24-Hour Snow' on telemetry also not working 12-28, judging by cams and 'Total Precipitation'

Thanks for your efforts on this, Amar!  I would not have started this thread without the now-gone "artificially lowered 30" telemetry header coinciding with the snowplay delay press release.

...

Edit to add '24-Hour Snow' on telemetry also not working 12-28, judging by cams and 'Total Precipitation'

Yeah, that "artificially lowered" wording was worrisome, and really made it seem as if NWAC thought that someone had dug away 30" of snow. It's definitely an unusual failure mode for that snowdepth sensor to start showing a new (apparently realistic) lower value, instead of just totally random values or zeros that would have been obviously spurious.

As for the 24-hour snowdepth, I think it's working correctly, but it remains partially buried to a depth of 12" in older recent snow since it was last cleared off on December 20. So just subtract 12" to get the approximate new snowfall until someone finally clears it off. As of 9am on December 28, it's currently showing 2" of new snowfall and 0.37" of new precip since yesterday, which seems to be reasonable given temps hovering just below freezing and also roughly matches the new snowfall visible on the webcams. New snowfall might actually be about 3", due to ongoing settlement of the old 12" on the 24-hour snowdepth board.
[tt]
Northwest Avalanche Center
Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington

Total snowdepth out 2 pm Dec 21

MM/DD  Hour  Temp    RH  Wind  Wind  Wind  Hour Total 24 Hr Total Solar
         PST     F     %   Avg   Max   Dir Prec. Prec.  Snow  Snow  W/m2
             5400' 5400' 5380' 5380' 5380' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5380'

---

12 27  1000    27    96    10    14   265     0     0    12          41
12 27  1100    29    96    12    18   261   .01   .01    12          81
12 27  1200    30    97    13    19   262   .01   .02    13          65
12 27  1300    30    98    13    18   263   .03   .05    13          35
12 27  1400    30    97    14    20   264   .06   .11    13          39
12 27  1500    31    99    15    19   268   .02   .13    13          25
12 27  1600    30    98    14    21   264   .02   .15    13          16
12 27  1700    31    98    14    19   262   .02   .17    13           0
12 27  1800    31    99    12    20   263   .01   .18    13           0
12 27  1900    31    99    12    22   261     0   .18    13           0
12 27  2000    31    99    12    18   265   .01   .19    13           0
12 27  2100    31    99    17    25   264     0   .19    13           0
12 27  2200    31    99    16    23   266     0   .19    13           0
12 27  2300    31    99    15    21   263   .01    .2    13           0
12 28     0    31    99    14    24   260   .03   .23    13           0
12 28   100    30    98    14    19   264   .01   .24    13           0
12 28   200    30    98    14    23   263   .03   .27    13           0
12 28   300    30    98    12    20   262   .01   .28    13           0
12 28   400    29    98    13    21   259   .01   .29    13           0
12 28   500    29    98    16    24   260     0   .29    13           0
12 28   600    30    98    15    23   261     0   .29    13           0
12 28   700    30    98    14    20   260     0   .29    13           0
12 28   800    30    98    12    18   260   .04   .33    14           0
12 28   900    30    98    12    18   263   .04   .37    14          18
[/tt]

Given that forecasts and models indicate 3-5 ft of new snowfall at Paradise over the next 48 hours, that 24-hour snowdepth sensor will be completely buried out of sight by Saturday morning if those predictions come true.

Could it be that the sensor measurement drifted up, and someone's at NWAC just added a "subtract 30" to the measurement processing?

Could it be that the sensor measurement drifted up, and someone's at NWAC just added a "subtract 30" to the measurement processing?

No real evidence of that, the readings were fine until the sudden drop on Dec 21, and overall, they are fluctuating wildly since then, not just offset by any fixed amount. See the 7 days of Paradise NWAC data in my TR linked above, which includes all the missing data since NWAC blanked the total snowdepth column on Dec 23.

Or just look at the raw snow sensor data via the NWAC data portal, which shows the current wild fluctuations:
www.nwac.us/data-portal/location/mt-rain...snow_depth&year=2017

Well, it's back online: the Paradise total snow column was un-blanked in the NWAC telemetry after 6pm on December 28, with the note updated to read, "Total snow gage repaired 4 pm Dec 28"!
[tt]
Northwest Avalanche Center
Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington

Total snow gage repaired 4 pm Dec 28

MM/DD  Hour  Temp    RH  Wind  Wind  Wind  Hour Total 24 Hr Total Solar
         PST     F     %   Avg   Max   Dir Prec. Prec.  Snow  Snow  W/m2
             5400' 5400' 5380' 5380' 5380' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5400' 5380'

---

12 27  1900    31    99    12    22   261     0     0    13    56     0
12 27  2000    31    99    12    18   265   .01   .01    13    57     0
12 27  2100    31    99    17    25   264     0   .01    13    58     0
12 27  2200    31    99    16    23   266     0   .01    13    58     0
12 27  2300    31    99    15    21   263   .01   .02    13    61     0
12 28     0    31    99    14    24   260   .03   .05    13    58     0
12 28   100    30    98    14    19   264   .01   .06    13    57     0
12 28   200    30    98    14    23   263   .03   .09    13    55     0
12 28   300    30    98    12    20   262   .01    .1    13    50     0
12 28   400    29    98    13    21   259   .01   .11    13    34     0
12 28   500    29    98    16    24   260     0   .11    13   299     0
12 28   600    30    98    15    23   261     0   .11    13    58     0
12 28   700    30    98    14    20   260     0   .11    13    58     0
12 28   800    30    98    12    18   260   .04   .15    14   299     0
12 28   900    30    98    12    18   263   .04   .19    14    55    18
12 28  1000    30    98    15    21   266   .04   .23    15    50    45
12 28  1100    30    97    14    20   273   .05   .28    14   299    71
12 28  1200    31    96    13    18   273   .05   .33    16    56    80
12 28  1300    31    97    10    16   274   .06   .39    17   299    59
12 28  1400    31    97    12    18   274   .09   .48    18    61    38
12 28  1500    30    98    15    23   278   .07   .55    18   299    20
12 28  1600    30    98    14    20   270   .08   .63    20    87     8
12 28  1700    30    98    13    21   270   .09   .72    21    88     0
12 28  1800    31    99    11    18   265   .09   .81    21    89     0
[/tt]

Obviously, the 24-hour snowdepth board still wasn't cleared off when the total snowdepth was fixed, not sure why that wasn't done! Unless it was somehow remotely repaired, and did not require an actual onsite visit. Will have to find out the real story from the NWAC folks sometime.

So what happened to the total snow measurement is that the pole that the electronic sensor is mounted on can slip, since it is mounted in a less than ideal manner (hose clamps) on a non standard tower for us.

Long story short the slip causes the sensor readings to be too low. No government conspiracy just gravity.

For this simple fix we were able to get a park employee to go out with pair of vice grips and realign the pole.

Hopefully a regular clearing of the 24 hour board will resume soon.

Maybe we can improve the total snow sensor mount before too long as well.

Thanks, Garth
NW Avalanche Center