SBU Pluvio Precipitation Gauge IMPACTS: Snowstorm Precipitation Data

NASA's IMPACTS campaign precipitation data consists of precipitation intensity and accumulation measurements from OTT Pluvio2 weighing rain gauges. The dataset supports the first major study of East Coast snowstorms in 30 years, aiming to understand snowband formation, microphysical characteristics, and improve snowfall prediction. Files are available in ASCII-CSV format from January 7, 2020, through March 2, 2023.

Use Cases

• Analyzing precipitation intensity and accumulation time series to study snowband evolution.
• Validating remote sensing snowfall products and numerical weather prediction models with ground-based measurements.
• Investigating the microphysical growth mechanisms of snow particles across different storm regions.
• Providing observational constraints for research on East Coast snowstorm climatology and dynamics.

Strengths

• Data collection is part of a targeted NASA Earth Venture campaign, the first comprehensive study of East Coast snowstorms in 30 years.
• Covers a specific and relevant time range for the IMPACTS campaign, from January 7, 2020, to March 2, 2023.
• Available in a simple, accessible ASCII-CSV format.

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row count are not provided in the available metadata, limiting immediate understanding of data structure.
• One platform lists a last updated date of 2026-04-09, which is inconsistent with the data collection end date of 2023-03-02, suggesting potential metadata lag.
• The license is specified only as 'other-license-specified' without explicit details.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected using OTT Pluvio2 weighing rain gauges during the IMPACTS field campaign.

Time Range

January 7, 2020, through March 2, 2023

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:38:51.020519 (from datagov, but conflicts with data end date)

Geography

East Coast of the United States (implied by focus on Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms)