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Spatio‐temporal November and March snowfall trends in the Lake Michigan region
Author(s) -
Clark Craig A.,
GaneshBabu Bharath,
Elless Travis J.,
Lyza Anthony W.,
Koning Dana M.,
Carne Alexander R.,
Boney Holly A.,
Sink Amanda M.,
Barrick Justin M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.5498
Subject(s) - snow , precipitation , teleconnection , climatology , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , geology
This study has investigated the spatio‐temporal variability of November and March Lake Michigan snowfall for the period 1950–2013. Snowfall characteristics were assessed using time series analysis, geographic information systems, and visualization. Results indicate significant temporal decreases of November and March snowfall, peak inter‐annual variability within the lake‐effect belt, modest concurrent and lagged sensitivity to teleconnection indices, and strong dependence of snowfall on temperature. The decreased snowfall is in contrast to December–February snowfall and associated with a decreasing fraction of November and March precipitation days occurring as snow days, rather than changes in precipitation frequency. The decreasing fraction of precipitation days occurs as snowfall is consistent with synoptic‐scale disturbances producing rain rather than snow and lake‐effect rain falling in lieu of snow.