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  • Regional Snowfall Index (RSI)

    Metadata Updated: September 5, 2016

    NOAA's National Climatic Data Center is now producing the Regional Snowfall Index (RSI) for significant snowstorms that impact the eastern two thirds of the U.S. The RSI ranks snowstorm impacts on a scale from 1 to 5, similar to the Fujita scale for tornadoes or the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes. NCDC has analyzed and assigned RSI values to over 500 storms going as far back as 1900. New storms are added operationally. As such, RSI puts the regional impacts of snowstorms into a century-scale historical perspective. The RSI differs from other indices because it includes population. RSI is based on the spatial extent of the storm, the amount of snowfall, and the juxtaposition of these elements with population. The area and population are cumulative values above regional specific thresholds. For example, the thresholds for the Southeast are 2", 5", 10", and 15" of snowfall while the thresholds for the Northeast are 4", 10", 20", and 30" of snowfall. Population information ties the index to societal impacts. Currently, the index uses population based on the 2000 Census. The RSI is an evolution of the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) which NCDC began producing operationally in 2005. While NESIS was developed for storms that had a major impact in the Northeast, it includes the impact of snow on other regions as well. It can be thought of as a quasi-national index that is calibrated to Northeast snowstorms. By contrast, the RSI is a regional index; a separate index is produced for each of the six NCDC climate regions in the eastern two-thirds of the nation. The indices are calculated in a similar fashion to NESIS, but our experience has led us to propose a change in the methodology. The new indices require region-specific parameters and thresholds for the calculations. For details on how RSI is calculated, see Squires et al. 2011.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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    Dates

    Metadata Date August 19, 2016
    Metadata Created Date August 8, 2016
    Metadata Updated Date September 5, 2016
    Reference Date(s) January 1, 2011 (publication), June 1, 2014 (revision)
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NOAA CSW Harvest Source

    Graphic Preview

    RSI map example for snowstorm events.

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date August 19, 2016
    Metadata Created Date August 8, 2016
    Metadata Updated Date September 5, 2016
    Reference Date(s) January 1, 2011 (publication), June 1, 2014 (revision)
    Responsible Party DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Access Constraints Cite this dataset when used as a source., NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NCEI makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives.
    Bbox East Long -65.0
    Bbox North Lat 50.0
    Bbox South Lat 30.0
    Bbox West Long -100.0
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update asNeeded
    Graphic Preview Description RSI map example for snowstorm events.
    Graphic Preview File http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/images/C00465_RSI-image.jpg
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Guid gov.noaa.ncdc:C00465
    Harvest Object Id e8a2c953-5847-4941-ab8f-0430d4d7ca21
    Harvest Source Id 2aed8e29-fc5b-4cde-aa66-fb1118fd705e
    Harvest Source Title NOAA CSW Harvest Source
    Licence
    Metadata Language
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Progress underDevelopment
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 1900-01-01

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