The Blue Hill Observatory, a few miles south of Boston, recorded the deepest snow cover in its 130-year history a couple of years ago, an incredible 46 inches. In February 2015, Bangor, Maine tied its record for deepest snow at 53 inches. Mountainous locations will sometimes see triple-digit snow depths.

Impressive numbers for sure, but assuming you have a measuring stick long enough to reach the ground beneath all the white, really, how hard can it be to measure? You stick a ruler or yardstick into the snow and get a number, right? Well, not so fast. It’s a little more complicated than you might think to get those oh-so-important snow totals for winter storms.

Read the full story here: Where do those snowfall totals on the news come from?