>And sometimes color is used to reflect gradients.

Just furthers my point - a map, be it color-coded or not, with snowfall totals overlayed would better show the gradient. Numbers in a table don't show how weather changed across a region if you have no reference points (that is to say, if you don't know where these places are, the numbers are pretty meaningless). It'd be fine for logging data for reference, but in this instance there were better choices for sharing that information.

Edit: this is an old article but the thumbnail shows the general idea of what I'm talking about

https://www.wtae.com/amp/article/pittsburgh-weather-snow-total-projections/38769632