Contents

Snow

Snow Characteristics

  • Colors

  • Crystal structure

Snow Formation

  • A general rule: snow will not form if the ground temperature is at least 5°C.

  • Temperature vs moisture (Antarctica’s Dry Valley!)

  • Most snowflakes are less than 1.3 cm.

  • Snow seasonality

Vertical Profile of Ground Snow

  • Daytime temperature inversion

Snow Water Equivalent

  • Definition: the thickness of water that would result from melting a given layer of snow.

  • 25 cm of fresh snow ~= 0.25-10 cm of water.

  • New snow in the U.S. contains a water-to-snow ratio between 4-10%.

Snow and Weather

  • Snow forecasting remains challenging.

  • Follow storm tracks in boreal winter.

  • Blizzard and bomb cyclone

  • Thunder snow (summer)

  • Polar vortex

Snow and Vegetation

  • Wind direction

  • Canopy snow

  • Tree type

  • Clearings

Snowpack Energy Budget

  • Snow albedo

  • Latent heat of snow

  • Turbulent transfer

Snow and Rain Temperature

Snow and Water Flow

Lake Effect Snow

Snow and Climate Change

  • Snow trend and variability

  • Snow as a forcing to affect atmospheric circulation?

../_images/snow_trend.png

Fig. 3 March snow water equivalent and its trend (per decade). Source: Pullianinen et al. (2020)

Overview of Arctic Permafrost