Adjusted Daily Rainfall and Snowfall Data for Canada

ABSTRACTThis article documents how Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Adjusted Daily Rainfall and Snowfall (AdjDlyRS) dataset was developed. The adjustments include (i) conversion of ruler measurements of snowfall to its water equivalent using a previously developed snow water equivalent (SWE) ratio map for Canada; (ii) corrections for gauge-related issues including undercatch and evaporation caused by wind effects and gauge-specific wetting loss, as well as for trace precipitation amounts, using previously developed procedures for Canada. Various data flags (e.g., accumulation flags) were also treated. This dataset contains all Canadian stations reporting daily rainfall and snowfall for which we have metadata to implement the adjustments. The length of the data record varies from one station to another, starting as early as 1840. The results show that the original unadjusted total precipitation data in Environment and Climate Change Canada’s digital archive underestimate the total precipitation in n...