mattmaz wrote:
Hello All,

I am a weather novice, there's no doubt of that having read some of
the posts on this group. I have a question regarding Dewpoint
temperature.

What is the effect of the dewpoint temperature on the likelyhood of
any precipitation falling as snow? i.e. my weather station is
currently reporting an external temp of +1.2 deg C but with a dewpoint
of -1.1 deg C, if there was precipitation right now would it fall as
rain or snow based on the figures ? I understand there are other
factors involved too, but I thought I'd ask as I've often wondered.

Thanks in advance,

Regards,
Matt

P.S. Is Eskimo Will snowed in yet? lol
----------------------
Talking of the man, he sent me this a few years ago when I asked the
same question and I've found it useful as a rule of thumb:-
Add together the Dew point and the temperature = A
then if:-

If A 7 prob. snow is very small
If A=7 prob. snow = 10%
A=6 20%
A=5 30%
A=4 40%
A=3 50%
A=2 60%
A=1 70%
A=0 80% or more

So you would currently have a greater than 80% chance of precipitation
falling as snow.
There is a deeper discussion about Dp's in our FAQ's but I've lost the
link at the moment but I'm sure it will be in a subsequent reply.
Dave