Comparisons of snowfall measurements in complex terrain made during the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver

Solid precipitation (SP) intensity ( Rs ) using four automatic gauges, Pluvio, PARSIVEL (PArticle, SIze and VELocity), FD12P and POSS, and radar reflectivity factor ( Z ) using the POSS and PARSIVEL were measured at a naturally sheltered station (VOA) located at high level (1,640 m) on the Whistler Mountain in British Colombia, Canada. The R s and other standard meteorological parameters were collected from March 2009, and from November 2009, to February 2010.

The wind speed (ws) measured during this period ranged from 0 to 4.5 ms⁻¹, with a mean value of 0.5 ms⁻¹. The temperature varied from 4 to −17 °C. The SP amount reported by the PARSIVEL was higher than that reported by the Pluvio by more than a factor of 2, while the FD12P and POSS measured relatively smaller amounts, but much closer to that reported by the Pluvio and manual measurements. The dependence of R s from the PARSIVEL on wind speed was examined, but no significant dependence was found.