Annual snowpack patterns across the Rockies: Long-term trends and associated 500-mb synoptic patterns
- Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb (United States)
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins (United States)
Winter snowpack was investigated to determine spatial and temporal climate variability in a five-state region (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming) in the northern Rocky Mountains, covering the period 1951-1985. Annual 1 April snowpack (SN) measurements were selected for analyses. Three basic and persistent patterns of annual SN values surfaced: years with a consistent anomaly over the entire region (wet or dry); years with a distinct north-to-south gradient; and average years. Nearly 90% of the nonaverage annual SN patterns were explained by the frequency of seven 500-mb winter synoptic patterns. The wet-north-dry-south gradient SN patterns occurred only before 1974, and the dry-north-wet-south gradient southern areas of the five-state region are due to periods when one of the two north-to-south gradient SN patterns occurred and are explained by the changes in the frequency of synoptic patterns. 20 refs., 19 figs., 6 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6502931
- Journal Information:
- Monthly Weather Review; (United States), Vol. 121:3; ISSN 0027-0644
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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