Abstract
Winter precipitation in Aomori, a cold, snowy city, was observed during the period January 3–March 31, 2013, by using a large-diameter precipitation collector. The observations were compared with those of the Aomori Meteorological Observatory. The comparison indicated that winter precipitation as observed by the precipitation collector was mostly overestimated. Furthermore, the results of the regression analysis showed that the determined coefficient (r2) and the slope of the regression line were 0.94 and 1.06, respectively, and the y intercept was 0.8 mm. When using a large-diameter precipitation collector, the winter precipitation may be underestimated because of a decrease in capture rate with an increase in wind speed; on the other hand, it may be overestimated because of the sampling of the snow cover that piles up the edges of the opening of the precipitation collector and a secondary migration in which the wind causes the snow to move again.
