What do precipitation maps show

Rivers and Lakes. Climate and Past Weather. Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook. Follow us on YouTube. Disclaimer Information Quality Help Glossary. Percent of Normal Last 30 Days. The timing of collection, collection methods, and even some proprietary data limit the ability for one map to include all of the stations and recorded data. When looking at these maps, take a look at what the map is actually showing you, or not showing you, and make decisions accordingly.

Most maps list the source, so take a minute and search that source and see how the map and data are produced. My recommendation is to look at single-point data, as well as radar-estimated or interpolated data to get the best estimate of what happened in a certain area. It also links to NeRain , a citizen network to monitor and report precipitation across the state.

With a focus on industry applications and research, the online program is designed with maximum flexibility for today's working professionals. Skip to main content. Share Tweet Email. Clouds an precipitation map shows the amount of precipitation in the indicated time period e. Precipitation in millimetres is displayed with colours as indicated in the map legend, whereas clouds are shaded in gray. White, horizontal hatching indicates cirrus clouds.

White, inclined hatching indicates snowfall. These maps show the probability of precipitation amounts greater than 0. The colours do not indicate the precipitation amount, only the probability. Snow fall maps show the total amount of fallen snow in the indicated time period e.

It is expressed in centimetres cm and visualised with colours as indicated in the colour bar. By adding line plots such as the e. More: see snow. The estimated snow depth maps show the total amount of accumulated snow on the ground as an estimate.

They are shown on maps by heavy lines with additional symbols to show the direction of movement. A line showing a cold front has triangles pointing in the direction the air mass is moving, while warm fronts have half-circles on the side toward which the air is moving. If an air mass stops moving, it becomes a stationary front marked by a line with triangles on the cool side and half circles on the warm side.

The location and movement of fronts is important, especially cold fronts. That is because passing cold fronts often bring storms, even violent storms containing tornadoes.

Once a cold front has passed, the air is cooler and drier than before. Warm fronts are not usually accompanied by storms, but they may be marked by large areas of continuous rain. The air is warmer and more humid in a warm front's wake. Storms may follow a stationary front like trains on a track, dropping large amounts of rain over a narrow band.

Generalized weather maps show predicted rain or snow. Patterns on the map show areas where rainfall or snowfall is predicted, plus special symbols for thunderstorms, hail, sleet and ice. Detailed maps show the cloud cover at reporting stations with coded circles.