Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

How Are Spring Snow Conditions in Central Canada Related to Early Warm-Season Precipitation?

Hua Su Department of Geological Sciences, The John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

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Robert E. Dickinson Department of Geological Sciences, The John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

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Kirsten L. Findell NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey

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Benjamin R. Lintner Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey

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Print Publication:
01 Jun 2013
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-12-029.1
Page(s):
787–807
Restricted access

Abstract

The response of the warm-season atmosphere to antecedent snow anomalies has long been an area of study. This paper explores how the spring snow depth relates to subsequent precipitation in central Canada using ground observations, reanalysis datasets, and offline land surface model estimates. After removal of low-frequency ocean influences, April snow depth is found to correlate negatively with early warm-season (May–June) precipitation across a large portion of the study area. A chain of mechanisms is hypothesized to account for this observed negative relation: 1) a snow depth anomaly leads to a soil moisture anomaly, 2) the subsequent soil moisture anomaly affects ground turbulent fluxes, and 3) the atmospheric vertical structure allows dry soil to promote local convection. A detailed analysis supports this chain of mechanisms for those portions of the domain manifesting a statistically significant negative snow–precipitation correlation. For a portion of the study area, large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns also affect the early warm-season rainfall, indicating that the snow–precipitation feedback may depend on large-scale atmospheric dynamical features. This analysis suggests that spring snow conditions can contribute to warm-season precipitation predictability on a subseasonal to seasonal scale, but that the strength of such predictability varies geographically as it depends on the interplay of hydroclimatological conditions across multiple spatial scales.

Corresponding author address: Hua Su, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1100, Austin, TX 78712-0254. E-mail: edward_su@jsg.utexas.edu

Abstract

The response of the warm-season atmosphere to antecedent snow anomalies has long been an area of study. This paper explores how the spring snow depth relates to subsequent precipitation in central Canada using ground observations, reanalysis datasets, and offline land surface model estimates. After removal of low-frequency ocean influences, April snow depth is found to correlate negatively with early warm-season (May–June) precipitation across a large portion of the study area. A chain of mechanisms is hypothesized to account for this observed negative relation: 1) a snow depth anomaly leads to a soil moisture anomaly, 2) the subsequent soil moisture anomaly affects ground turbulent fluxes, and 3) the atmospheric vertical structure allows dry soil to promote local convection. A detailed analysis supports this chain of mechanisms for those portions of the domain manifesting a statistically significant negative snow–precipitation correlation. For a portion of the study area, large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns also affect the early warm-season rainfall, indicating that the snow–precipitation feedback may depend on large-scale atmospheric dynamical features. This analysis suggests that spring snow conditions can contribute to warm-season precipitation predictability on a subseasonal to seasonal scale, but that the strength of such predictability varies geographically as it depends on the interplay of hydroclimatological conditions across multiple spatial scales.

Corresponding author address: Hua Su, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1100, Austin, TX 78712-0254. E-mail: edward_su@jsg.utexas.edu
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