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Aviation Meteorology Guide: Cloud, Fog, and Precipitation - Covers cloud formation, cloud classification, lifting forces, fog, precipitation, and thunderstorm development. From the Australian Ultralite Federation.
Basic Requirements for Collecting, Documenting, and Reporting Precipitation and Stormwater-Flow Measurements - US Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-255 is provided in PDF format (554KB 38 pages).
Caltech's SnowCrystals.com is all about snow crystals and snowflakes and how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures appear, quite literally, out of thin air. Don't miss their collection of high resolution snow crystal photos.
Cloud Appreciation Society - You love lying in the park on a summer's day and looking for shapes in the cumulus clouds. You think a mackerel sky of puffy altocumulus stretching off towards the setting sun is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. In short, you love clouds. And yet everyone else just seems to complain about them. Are you the only one who thinks life would be poorer without these glorious 'patron goddesses of idle fellows'? No, you're not. There are others like you. Find them at the Cloud Appreciation Society.
Cloud Atlas - Dennis Lamb, Professor of Meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University, provides this list of cloud classifications by genera, species, varieties, and supplementary features, with photographs from Berhard Muehr.
Cloud Glossary - This dictionary of terms used to describe different types of clouds is provided by Dr. Marion Alcorn of Texas A&M University.
Clouds - Fact Sheet #1 - The Met Office, U.K. (PDF 983KB 25 pages)
Fundamentals of Physical Geography: Introduction to the Hydrosphere - Chapter 8 from the online textbook by Dr. Michael Pidwirny, Okanagan University College, Canada, covers precipitation (rain, ice, snow, hail) and fog (radiation, upslope, advection, evaporation, and frontal fog). Also cloud formation processes, global distribution of precipitation, acid precipitation, and other related topics.
How to Read Your Rain Gauge - The Colorado Climate Center offers advice on obtaining accurate rainfall measurements using a 4" plastic rain gauge.
Inadvertent Rain Gauge Inconsistencies and Their Effect on Hydrologic Analysis - (PDF 497KB) This paper reviews some of the factors that lead to inadvertent inconsistencies in rainfall data, provides some insights into the sensitivity of streamflow simulations to rainfall errors, and offers suggestions to improve gauge and data management procedures in order to help improve data consistency.
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Snow Home Page - Provides information about why and how snow surveys are done, and the history of snow surveys in the Eastern Sierra. Find out what a snow pillow is and how it works.
Luke Howard: The Man Who Named the Clouds - Prior to the beginning of the 19th Century, most weather observers believed that clouds were too transient, too changeable, too short-lived to be classified or even analyzed. In this article Dr. Keith Heidorn describes the development of the cloud classification system used today.
Monitoring Snow From the Beach in San Diego: Automatic Snow Sensors in the Sierra - Read about the adventures of Jessica Lundquist, as she helps with summer maintenance of the automated snow sensors operated by the California Department of Water Resources Cooperative Snow Survey Department.
National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center - The definitive site for snow information from the National Weather Service. Using their Interactive Snow Information interface, you can browse through their suite of snow information, including snow cover, snow depth, snowfall total last 24 hours, and more.
Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale - NESIS characterizes and ranks high-impact Northeast (United States) snowstorms. It has five categories: Extreme, Crippling, Major, Significant, and Notable. The index differs from other meteorological indices in that it uses population information in addition to meteorological measurements. Thus NESIS gives an indication of a storm's societal impacts.
Online Meteorology Guide: Clouds and Precipitation - University of Illinois
Precipitation Analysis - The National Weather Service website includes a new experimental precipitation page which provides high-quality precipitation analyses to be used for flood forecasts, drought monitoring, and climate trends. It is being offered on a trial basis through June 2006. During this time, feedback will be collected to determine whether it effectively meets user needs and should be continued after the trial period.
Rain Gauges: Are They Really Ground Truth? - Covers issues surrounding the accuracy of rain gauges and what factors to consider when evaluating rain gauge data. Presented by Nolan Doesken, Assistant State Climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.
Relative Catches of Snow in Shielded and Unshielded Gages at Different Wind Speeds - (PDF 297KB) By Leonard L. Weiss, Hydrologic Services Division, U.S. Weather Bureau (Monthly Weather Review, October 1961)
Shielded Storage Precipitation Gages - (PDF 2.52MB) By J. Cecil Alter, U.S. Weather Bureau (Monthly Weather Review, July 1937)
SNOTEL Data Collection Network Fact Sheet - The Natural Resources Conservation Service installs, operates, and maintains an extensive automated system called SNOTEL (for SNOwpack TELemetry) to collect snowpack and related climatic data in the Western United States. The high-elevation watershed locations and the broad coverage of the network provide important data collection opportunities to researchers, water managers, and emergency managers.
Snow Measurement Guidelines - National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program
Snow Rain Equivalents - This brief article from Weatherwise Magazine's Weather Queries column discusses the various factors that can affect the ratio of snow depth to water-equivalent depth.
Standard Rain Gage - National Weather Service training module describes the four major components of the 8-inch non-recording standard rain gage (SRG), installation and exposure of the gage, the use of wind shields, and measuring snowfall. Also compares the SRG with other types of rain collectors.
Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Animation - Texas A&M Blackland Research Center Water Sciences Laboratory provides a Java animation illustrating the function of a tipping bucket rain gauge.
Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Animation - Animated gif illustration from Dr. Gregory B. Pasternak of the University of California at Davis shows how the tipping bucket assembly functions in an automated rain station.
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