Northern Hemisphere Winter 2022-2023 Snowcover / Misc Obs

[gerontocrat]

Looks like the snow is coming back with a bang, especially in Eastern Siberia.

So I thought time to start the thread.

Images from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/
click to enlarge

[gerontocrat]

Looks like the snow is coming back with even more of a bang in Eastern Siberia.

Images from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/
click to enlarge

[morganism]

Hope it puts out the fires. Siberian Times news hasn't posted anything since late 2021...

https://siberiantimes.com/home/

[Niall Dollard]

Rutgers snow anomaly chart shows the positive start in eastern Siberia.

[Sublime_Rime]

Things seem to have swung in the opposite direction for all the major regions of snowfall, with total anomaly > 3 million km^2 below 2000-2019 average. Not sure of the implications for this time of year.

[Tor Bejnar]

Less snow on the ground means less insulation so more heat loss and more “cold” stored in the ground. Good for the permafrost.

When my northern New Mexican town plunged to 30 something below, our fruit trees didn’t suffer because we had 20 cm of snow on the ground. Nearby Santa Fe had no snow and lots of fruit trees died.

20 some years ago a town in northern New York had normal cold but no snow and numerous water pipes burst.

[El Cid]

Less snow on the ground means less insulation so more heat loss and more “cold” stored in the ground. Good for the permafrost.

I think it is the other way around. There is no snow because it has been so "hot". That's not good for the permafrost

[FredBear]

Less snow on the ground means less insulation so more heat loss and more “cold” stored in the ground. Good for the permafrost.

I think it is the other way around. There is no snow because it has been so "hot". That's not good for the permafrost

At this stage in the season "no snow" is dumping heat, getting back towards to the normal situation.
The problems have been early "snow off" and abnormally high temperatures during the past NH summer?
The next questions are whether enough heat can be dumped to get back to the old situation or even if the snows fail this winter and excessive heat losses cause more extreme temperature oscillations later    .     .     .   

[HapHazard]

Good for permafrost right now (so long as the temps are below freezing) - but not if it ends up being a negative snow cover anomaly come spring melt season.

[Tor Bejnar]

Absolutely, Hap!

[Sebastian Jones]

Good for permafrost right now (so long as the temps are below freezing) - but not if it ends up being a negative snow cover anomaly come spring melt season.

I live in the NW of Canada, about where the negative and positive anomalies meet.
We do have a little snow on the ground, but here and to our south, it has been record warm.
It is decidedly not god for permafrost in this country.
Neither is is to our east in the NWT where a wetlands research station recently burned to the ground in a wild land fire...in a wetland ...in October.https://cklbradio.com/2022/10/18/breaking-scotty-creek-research-near-fort-simpson-camp-damaged-by-fire/

[Tor Bejnar]

Are you saying it’s not freezing cold at night in late October in northern Canada?  Unseasonable yes,  but we had ground frost in northern Florida yesterday morning. OK,  my computer says Whitehorse YT is hovering around 0C this week and will average below 0 next week.

[Ranman99]

Just because it is below zero in Northern Florida does not mean it will be below zero in Yellowknife. Check out the complete weather systems over North America, highs and lows, including the jet stream and the current polar vortex excitement.

When you drive from Toronto to Ottawa in autumn, you often meet a very nice invisible barrier about 60km to the West of Ottawa, where the weather pattern is coming down from Hudson's Bay and temps drop about 6 degrees celsius in a 15km stretch, and the difference is startling. Sometimes it is there, sometimes it is not, but it is very noticeable and just one of those things ;-)

When it is reverse the temperature change can be in the positive direction but usually around that same place. 

[gerontocrat]

From Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/

"The North wind doth blow, and we will have snow"

Snow anomaly + 4.34 million m2, (which is a lot)
Of which
North America + 2.96 million m2, (just breached +2SD)
Asia 1.51 million m2,
Europe - 0.13 million m2.

click to enlarge images

[The Walrus]

Just wait until the current snowstorm wraps up and see where we stand.

[gerontocrat]

Yesterday the snowcover anomaly rose to just above +5 million km2 - but it was all to do with Europe.

Today (from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/) the snowcover anomaly has reduced to 4.51 million km2;
- The Europe anomaly has increased to + 1.06 million km2,
- The Asian anomaly has reduced to + 0.96 million km2,
- and the N. America anomaly has reduced to + 2.49 million km2, which is a real reduction in snowcover area.

Although the Lake-effect snow was a real blinder, the area affected was realtively snall, given that the current N. America anomaly of 2.49 million km2 is somewhat more than 25% of the total land area of the Lower 48 US States (perhaps 15% of the total land area of North America.

click images to enlarge

[gerontocrat]

Just one week ago the Northern Hemisphere snow cover anomaly was around +5 million km2, (of which in N. America was around +2.5 million.

And now?...

N. America    -O.49 million km2 (yes, minus)
Asia              +0.28 million km2
Europe          +0.07 million km2

TOTAL            -0.13 million km2 (yes, minus)

Of course this caould all change very fast very soon. I wonder if the cold blast hitting N America over the next few days will be of dry or wet air.

Data & graphs from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/

click images to enlarge

[oren]

Very weird.

[kassy]

Well YOY there is more energy in the system and now it´s enough to melt snow at the edges even this late in the year. We will see how this develops over time.

[gerontocrat]

Here are Nico Sun's graphs on snowcover from https://cryospherecomputing.com/

Of interest might be the USA snowcover anomaly of +0.59 million km2, being just before the predicted major storm blights much of the USA. The data in a couple of days time might be interesting as well as any thaw after that.

Overall, Northern Hemisphere snowcover is as near to the 2000to2019 average as makes no difference.

[The Walrus]

With the forecasted Arctic blast, I doubt there will be much thaw in the aftermath of the storm.

[HapHazard]

The data in a couple of days time might be interesting as well as any thaw after that.

Yeah, might be a bit of a roller coaster. It's -26 here now, got down to -34 last night. Forecast says +3 on Saturday, staying pretty level for the week after that. Our livestock will be very confused. haha

Thanks for all the work you post on this site, BTW. Happy ho-ho!

[gerontocrat]

While the snow cover grows in the USA (with more to come) snowcover declines a lot in Europe and Asia, the result being a small -ve snowcover anomaly.

[gerontocrat]

On this day with the worst of the storm over snowcover in America starts to thaw along its Southerm border.

In Europe snow cover losses remain high, while Asia is a mixture of increases and decreases.

click images to enlarge (thanks to Nico Sun as usual)

[The Walrus]

All in all, relatively normal.

[gerontocrat]

On this day with the worst of the storm over snowcover in America thaw increasesalong its Southerm border.

In Europe snow cover losses continue high, while Asia remains a mixture of increases and decreases.

Overall snowcover is 0.76 million km2 below the 2000-19 average.

GFS images suggest thaw in the middle and East of North America could speed up considerably this week

click images to enlarge (thanks to Nico Sun as usual)

[gerontocrat]

On this day with the worst of the storm over snowcover in America thaw accelerates along its Southerm border.

In Europe snow cover losses have stopped, while Asia snowcover has started to increase.

Overall snowcover is 1.19 million km2 below the 2000-19 average.

GFS images suggest thaw in the middle and East of North America is likely to be high over the next few days, with periods of above zero temperatures reaching as far North as southern Hudson Bay.

click images to enlarge

[gerontocrat]

On this day with the recent storm over snowcover in America thaw continues to accelerate along its Southerm border (but more snowcover further West)

In Europe& Asia has started to increase.

Overall snowcover is 1.85 million km2 below the 2000-19 average, America a 0.06 million km2 abiove aveerage.

GFS images suggest thaw in the middle and East of North America is likely to continue to be high over the next few days, with periods of above zero temperatures reaching as far North as southern Hudson Bay.

click images to enlarge

[The Walrus]

Another major snowstorm spreading across North America.

[gerontocrat]

Another major snowstorm spreading across North America.

But not yet.

On this day in the storm aftermath in America the thaw continues to be high along its Southerm border.

On this day in Europe & Asia snowcover has decreased a little bit.

Overall snowcover is 2.47 million km2 below the 2000-19 average, snowcover in America is 0.25 million km2 below average.

GFS images suggest thaw in the middle and East of North America is likely to continue for a few days more, with periods of above zero temperatures reaching as far North as southern Hudson Bay.

click images to enlarge

[The Walrus]

Another major snowstorm spreading across North America.

But not yet.

On this day in the storm aftermath in America the thaw continues to be high along its Southerm border.

That is typical along the southern front.  The freeze/thaw cycle will continue throughout the winter months.  This has occurred several times already in North America, as shown in your graphs.  While October was mostly below average, November and December have been above, but has not broken out above or below the two standard deviation range.

[gerontocrat]

Data as at 5 Jan from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/


On this day in The USA & Asia snowcover has increased a bit but still below average (2000-2019).

The story moves to Europe, where snowcover has fallen below the -2SD boundary, some 2.37 million km2 below average.

Overall snowcover is 4.07 million km2 below the 2000-19 average.

click images to enlarge[/i]
[/quote]

[Stephan]

You may have heard that the Alps miss a lot of snow this winter.
I add a series of pictures from a webcam in Western Austria (Furkajoch, roughly 50 km SE of Lake of Constance) from 2017 to 2023, each taken early January. The webcam is located at 1.630 m above sea level. The mountain to the left is 2.000 m asl, the mountain to the right close to 1.800 m.
The snow cover (if you can speak about a snow cover at all) is at historical lows. Skiing requires areas well above 1.900 m or artificial snow (white stripes in-between a green klandscape).
See attached picture, click to enlarge it.

Webcam address: https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/furkajoch/
From this webcam you can easily select other ones in that area.

[gerontocrat]

Data as at 16 Jan from Nico Sun @ https://cryospherecomputing.com/

On this day in The USA & Europe snowcover has decreased and is  below the 2000-2019 average (well below average in Europe).

The story moves to Asia, where snowfall has sudenly been big, huge even. Snowcover is way way above the+2SD boundary,

click images to enlarge