A snowboard is a meteorological tool used to aid in the obtaining of accurate measurement of snow

Snow

Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

 accumulation

Accumulation

Accumulation may refer to:* Accumulation: None, a 2002 lo-fi album* Capital accumulation, the gathering of objects of value* Glacier ice accumulation, an element in the glacier mass balance formula...

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Specifications

Snowboards are typically flat pieces of plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

painted a light color (most commonly white), around 16 to 24 in (40.6 to 61 cm) in length and width and around 0.5 to 0.75 in (12.7 to 19.1 mm) thick.

Reasons for use

Measuring snow in grass the grass blades will produce inflated snow totals, whereas with a snowboard this effect is absent. The light or white color of a snowboard serves to minimize heating by sunlight. These qualities make snowfall measurement using a snowboard more accurate than measurements without one.

Usage

Snowboards should be placed at ground level at a distance away from a building of at least two times the height of that building. When measuring snowfall on a snowboard, the snowfall is measured to the nearest 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) and is measured no more than four times in a 24 hour period (once every six hours). After a measurement is taken, all snow is cleaned off of the snowboard. At the end of the snow event, the measurements taken each time the snowboard was cleaned are added together to produce the storm total snowfall.