I found this on the NWS Quad Cities site today,

EFFECTIVE SATURDAY…OCTOBER 1 2011…THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES WILL NO LONGER REPORT SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH DATA IN THE DAILY…MONTHLY…SEASONAL…OR ANNUAL CLIMATE REPORTS FOR THE AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVATION SYSTEMS /ASOS/ LOCATED AT THE FOLLOWING AIRPORTS…

BURLINGTON…IA
CEDAR RAPIDS…IA
AND IOWA CITY…IA.

SOME OF THE PRODUCTS AFFECTED ARE:

CHICLIBRL CHICLMBRL CHICLSBRL CHICLABRL
CHICLICID CHICLMCID CHICLSCID CHICLACID
CHICLIIOW CHICLMIOW CHICLSIOW CHICLAIOW

AS AN ALTERNATIVE…OFFICIAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ONCE A DAY FROM THE FOLLOWING COOPERATIVE WEATHER OBSERVER STATIONS…

CEDAR RAPIDS #1 /CRPI4/ … LOCATED IN MARION…IA
SWISHER /SWHI4/
IOWA CITY /ICYI4/
AND BURLINGTON 2S /BLGI4/

REPORTS FROM THESE OBSERVERS CAN BE FOUND IN THE MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE /CHIRTPDVN/ PRODUCT. THE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE CEDAR RAPIDS #1 AND IOWA CITY OBSERVERS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE EVENING REPORT…WHILE THE OBSERVATIONS FROM BURLINGTON 2S AND SWISHER CAN BE FOUND ON THE 820 AM REPORT.

ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AND SNOW DEPTH INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FROM THE COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE RAIN… HAIL AND SNOW NETWORK /COCORAHS/. REPORTS FROM THESE VOLUNTEER OBSERVERS ARE TRANSMITTED ONCE A DAY AROUND 940 AM IN THE COCORAHS PRECIPITATION SUMMARY /CHILCODVN/ PRODUCT. THESE OBSERVATIONS CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON THE COCORAHS WEB
SITE

Now I believe this could be a start of what could be drastic cuts in how the weather is reported. I guess snowfall isn’t weather, otherwise they might as well cut all the precipitation amounts out too. Last time I knew, snow was precipitation, but I guess they don’t want to measure it. I fear that if the co-op observers aren’t able to make said measurements during bad weather (like the Blizzard in February.), there could be false information. Nothing will make people laugh as saying places like Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Burlington have received no snow because places like CNN or the Weather Channel aren’t going to be looking through co-op stations when it’s easier to find it on ASOS. If they’re not going to do it for those locations, then they shouldn’t do them at Davenport and Moline IL either. Can’t just pick and choose which ones you can and can’t do, or in some cases do and don’t do. I can easily forsee them cutting more than just the snowfall depth and amounts from climate reports in future months.