Just like the snow in upstate New York the video has been piling into NBC Weather Plus. While watching the video from Oswego, NY this morning on a weather hit I noticed how fluffy the snow was coming down. I did some peddling through the brain and thought for a moment about how much worse it could get.

When you have a rainstorm you can have heavy rain that causes immediate flooding or a slow rain that causes a ton of accumulation over days. Just like with rain there are different ranges of snow. The key to how the snow will feel and stack up is all about water content.

In a typical snow system like a Nor'easter or a Westerly storm in the Northwest there is generally a huge amount of moisture. One inch of rainfall will generally turn into 10 inches of snow. In this case it can be heavy at times and turn into a wet nasty and very dangerous mess.

However, when it comes to the localized phenomenon know as Lake Effect Snow the moisture content is less in many cases as the water source is much smaller. As winds kick up over the lakes it is only able to grab so much moisture before it is deposited on land (Western New York). On top of the smaller moisture source the air has been bitterly cold recently which contributes to a drier snow.

I am certainly not belittling how bad the snow is but recalling that it could be worse with higher water content. So, while the snow has added up quickly it does have more of a delicate result on the body and land as it falls if you will. I do realize this means little to those in Western New York battling the roads and low visibility. As you or I watch more video on Weather Plus I think it's always important to remember that nothing in weather is the same across the board, even when it comes to snowfall.

-- Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri