Exploring the Origins of Snow Drought in the Northern Sierra Nevada, California

Earth Interactions

Benjamin J.Hatchett¹ 

关键词: Complex terrain;    Watersheds;    Climatology;    Hydrometeorology;    Societal impacts;   

DOI  :  10.1175/EI-D-17-0027.1

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: American Geophysical Union

【 摘 要 】

AbstractThe concept of snow drought is gaining widespread interest as the climate of snow-dominated mountain watersheds continues to change. Warm snow drought is defined as above- or near-average accumulated precipitation coinciding with below-average snow water equivalent at a point in time. Dry snow drought is defined as below-average accumulated precipitation and snow water equivalent at a point in time. This study contends that such point-in-time definitions might miss important components of how snow droughts originate, persist, and terminate. Using these simple definitions and a variety of observations at monthly, daily, and hourly time scales, the authors explore the hydrometeorological origins of potential snow droughts in the northern Sierra Nevada from water years 1951 to 2017. This study finds that snow droughts can result from extreme early season precipitation, frequent rain-on-snow events, and low precipitation years. Late-season snow droughts can follow persistent warm and dry periods with ...

【 授权许可】

Unknown