1018kg/sq m

[joshnii 2]

They just said on the news that the weight of the snow is increasing and is 605kg/sq m here in Niigata. (Not sure where abouts).

 

Tokamachi it is a 19 year record @ 1018kg/sq m

[gamera 0]

I think perhaps because snow this winter seems kinda moist sometimes. People who need to climb the roof to shovel snow there told me the moist part which is danger for them

[KlingKlang 1]

No wonder people die with the snow falling from roofs in winter. Dangerous, I'll have to be a bit more thoughtful on that

[mattlucas 0]

Isn't a cubic metre of water 1000kg?

 

That is pretty heavy then.

[crazyski 0]

hmmm..., don't know how that works (1018kg/cubic meter). how could a cubic meter of snow be heavier than a cubic meter of water? Especially when nice, dry, fresh snow is only 5% moisture? Anyone?

[7-11 2]

Ice?

[mattlucas 0]

Isn't that how the metric system works though?

Is 1000kg of water equivalant to 1 cubic metre of water?

 

And it would be really heavy as it did rain up that far last week.

[Sven 0]

10cm*10cm*10cm = 1 litre = 1kg

 

1m*1m*1m = 1000 times the above, so yeah, 1 cubic metre is 1000kg (or 1 metric tonne).

 

The point of interest here is that the weights for the snow are quoted per square metre, not cubic. I guess that means that they're talking about how much the whole thickness of snow weighs. Ie, if the snow is 3m deep, then it's the equivalent of 3 cubic metres.

[mattlucas 0]

That one slipped right past me

Makes much more sense with square metres.

 

At least I nailed the metric part

[mogski 0]

But how can you make a measurement of mass by only using a measurement of area?

 

Should this not be a m3 figure in the title?

 

BTW, I am an arts graduate and not to up to the play with numbers and stuff

[jared 0]

The number is of interest to people who want to know how much pressure there is pushing down on their roof so area is relavant.

[gamera 0]

When you see snow on the roof from the ground level, it looks less than as is.

If it looks like just 60cm tall, it would be 1 meters when you climb the roof!!!

 

So I guess 1,018kg/square meter is possible to have if it's like more than 1 meter tall as Sven pointed.

[Sven 0]

Well, according to google:

 

fresh snow is 166.0 kilograms/cubic meter

packed snow is 470.5 kilograms/cubic meter

 

This makes packed snow just a little bit lighter than rice, so you can imagine that a pretty sturdy roof is needed to hold all those bags of rice up

 

And mogski, the reason they quote per sq m is that it's just the easiest way to guess when a house roof will cave in... a quote per cubic metre would be hard because the actual density would change from the fresh fluffy stuff on top down to the packed stuff below.

 

So they are really just saying something like:

If you haven't shovelled your roof, then this is how heavy the snow is, all things considered.

If you have shovelled, then it's even more of a guess

 

And gamera, perspective is cool... it's all about the angle of the dangle

[rachael 0]

How often do you clear the snow from your roof gamera? When it gets to a certain weight? Whats the most you had_? Too many questions, sorry , very interesting though. Be careful up there!

[cheeseman 1]

My friend in Nagano told me that they have to go up there about 5 times a season, obviously depending on snowfall. I bet it works up an appetite. But if you're up there and working hard you can look forward to the cheese fondue and wine party once you've finished.

[Hokkaidough 4]

Moving snow is great exercise I'll tell ya. Burns off those calories like nobodys business. It can be a pain esp on days when you want to be out there or tired.