The Association between Extremes in North American Snow Cover Extent and United States Temperatures

Leathers, Daniel J.; Robinson, D. A.

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<1345:tabein>2.0.co;2

Cited by 101 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Continental-scale studies have been carried out for North America and Eurasia (Leathers and Robinson, 1993;Wantanabe and Nitta, 1998;Clark et al, 1999;Cohen and Entekhabi, 1999), with some localized investigations taking place for smaller, regional areas. However, European snow cover extent has rarely been focused upon independent of Eurasia, despite its record of large seasonal and interannual variability.…”

Section: The Significance Of Snow Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Autumn snow cover relationships with winter temperature have been considered on continental scales with results inferring extreme cold winter temperatures in cases of positive autumn snow anomalies (Foster et al, 1983). Cotemporaneous temperature/snow cover associations have been investigated over North America; however, these relationships tend to be complex due to complicating atmospheric conditions (Leathers and Robinson, 1993). Anomalous positive (negative) snow cover and negative (positive) temperature anomalies were found to coincide in several studies (Foster et al, 1983;Cohen and Rind, 1991;Groisman et al, 1994;Leathers et al, 1995;Hantel et al, 2000).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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European snow cover extent variability and associations with atmospheric forcings

Henderson

Leathers

2010

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Snow cover in Europe represents an important component of the region's climatic system. Variability in snow cover extent can have major implications on factors such as low-level atmospheric temperatures, soil temperatures, soil moisture, stream discharge, and energy allocation involved in the warming and melting of the snowpack. The majority of studies investigating Northern Hemisphere snow cover identify European snow cover extent as a portion of the Eurasian record, possibly masking complexities of this subset. This study explores the variability of European snow cover extent from 1967-2007, with the region in question including the area of Europe extending eastward to the Ural Mountains (60°E). Using the 89 × 89 gridded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northern Hemisphere weekly satellite snow cover product, area estimates of seasonal snow cover were calculated, and their relationship to gridded temperature, precipitation, and sea-level pressure data analysed. The spatial variability of snow cover extent was also explored using geographical information systems (GIS). The combined results from both surface temperature and precipitation analyses point towards snow cover extent in Europe being primarily temperature dependent. Atmospheric variables associated with extremes in snow cover extent were investigated. Large (small) European snow extent is associated with negative (positive) 850 hPa zonal wind anomalies, negative (positive) European 1000-500 hPa thickness anomalies, and generally positive (negative) Northern European precipitation anomalies. Sea-level pressure and 500 hPa results indicate strong associations between large (small) snow cover seasons and the negative (positive) phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation.

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Section: The Significance Of Snow Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

European snow cover extent variability and associations with atmospheric forcings

Henderson

Leathers

2010

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…Numerous studies have investigated snow-cover occurrence in North America: snow-cover variability, duration and extent since the early 1990s were described by Huges and Robinson (1996), Leathers and Luff, (1997) and ; and Leathers and co-workers investigated snow-cover impact on the regional boundary-layer temperatures in the USA (Leathers and Robinson, 1993;Leathers et al, 1995). Clark et al (1999) investigated Eurasian snow extent and its atmospheric controls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snow cover in eastern Europe in relation to temperature, precipitation and circulation

Bednorz

2004

Intl Journal of Climatology

107

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The basic characteristics of snow cover occurrence in eastern Europe are described. For each month from October to May the range of 'active' snow-cover areas in Europe was determined. The boundary criterion for 'active' regions was adopted as snow-cover probability of between 10 and 90%. The correlation coefficients between the snow-cover characteristics (number of days with snow cover and its monthly mean depth) and other climatic variables (temperature and precipitation) were calculated. A strong positive correlation between the annual number of days with snow cover and the annual number of days with mean temperature <0°C was discovered for most parts of the study area. A negative correlation between the monthly number of days with snow cover and monthly mean temperature was found and its spatial distribution was analysed. A positive correlation between snow depth and precipitation appeared significant only in some areas. The influence of atmospheric circulation, expressed by North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) index values, on snow cover in the particular months was analysed. The correlation between the number of days with snow cover and the NAO index is large and statistically significant only in central Europe and it becomes insignificant to the east of 30°λ E. High values are noted only in the winter months. In autumn and spring, when the range of the 'active' areas moves to the east and the NAO becomes weak, the correlation is very small.

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“…Furthermore, the high emissivity and large heat loss of snow leads to lower minimum temperatures (Dewey, 1977). Many empirical studies (Wagner, 1973;Walsh et al, 1982;Namias, 1985; Leathers and Robinson, 1993;Bednorz, 2004;Mote, 2008) and dynamical model experiments (e.g. Cohen and Rind, 1991;Yasunari et al, 1991;Vavrus, 2007;Alexander and Gong, 2011) have demonstrated the local cooling effect of snow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal Pathways for Temperature Predictability from Snow Depth

Kolstad

2017

Preprint

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Dynamical subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) weather forecasting has made strides in recent years, thanks partly to better initialization and representation of physical variables in models. For instance, realistic initializations of snow and soil moisture in models yield enhanced temperature predictability on S2S time scales. Snow depth and soil moisture also mediate monthto-month persistence of near-surface air temperature. Here the role of snow depth as predictor of temperature one month ahead in the Northern Hemisphere is examined via two causal pathways. Through the first pathway, snow depth anomalies in month 1 persist into month 2 and are then linked to temperature anomalies through snow-temperature feedback mechanisms. The first pathway is active from fall to summer, and its effect peaks before the melting season: in winter in the low latitudes, in spring in the midlatitudes and in early summer in the high latitudes. The second pathway, where snow depth anomalies in month 1 lead to soil moisture anomalies in month 2 (through melting), which are then linked to temperature anomalies in month 2 through soil moisture-temperature feedbacks, is most active in spring and summer. The effect of the second pathway peaks during the melting season, namely later in the year than the first pathway. The latitudes of the highest mediated effect through both pathways follow a seasonal cycle, shifting northwards along with the seasonal insolation cycle. In keeping with this seasonal cycle, the highest snow depth mediation occurs to the north, and the highest soil moisture mediation to the south, of the latitudes with the highest overall temperature predictability from snow depth.

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The Association between Extremes in North American Snow Cover Extent and United States Temperatures

Cited by 101 publications

References 20 publications

European snow cover extent variability and associations with atmospheric forcings

European snow cover extent variability and associations with atmospheric forcings

Snow cover in eastern Europe in relation to temperature, precipitation and circulation

Causal Pathways for Temperature Predictability from Snow Depth

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