Snow Cover Monitoring
December 2010
Beijing Climate Center
China Meteorological Administration
Northern Hemisphere
In December, the number of days with snow cover (NDSC) was above 25 days in
northern Europe north of about 50N, both Asia and North America north of 40N.
Compared with normal, NDSC was 5-20 days more than normal in central and eastern
Europe, mid-western and southeastern Northwest China, parts of the eastern Tibetan
Plateau, southern Northeast China, northeastern American, with NDSC at least 20
days more than normal in locations. Meanwhile, NDSC was 5-15 days less than
normal in regions around the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, the mid-western
Tibet-plateau, central America, with NDSC above 20 days in locations of above
regions (Fig.1).
Fig.1 Number of Days with Snow Cover (left) and Anomalies (right)
in the Northern Hemisphere during December 2010 (26 days) (Unit: day)
China
In December, snow cover was observed in most Northwest China, most Northeast
China and Inner Mongolia, the eastern Tibetan Plateau, western Sichuan with
NSDC at least 25 days in most Northeast China, eastern Inner Mongolia,
northwestern Xinjiang and parts of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Compared with
normal, NDSC was above 5-20 days more than normal in locations in eastern
Inner Mongalia and parts of its west, northeastern Liaoning, northern and
southern Gansu, regions around the Mt. Tianshan, northern Qinghai, and parts of
eastern Tibet. Meanwhile, NSDC was less than normal in region around western
boundary of China and mid-western of the Tibetan Plateau (Fig.2).
Fig.2 Number of Days with Snow Cover (left) and Anomalies (right)
in China during December 2010 (26 days)(Unit: day)
Remark: Original data are from http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/snow/.
Analyst: Climate System Diagnostics and Prediction Division/National Climate Center/CMA
Climatologic fields are from the 1973-2002 base period means.
Reference
Guo Yanjun, Li Wei , Chen Qianjin, An Operational Monitoring and Diagnosing System for Snow
Cover in the Northern Hemisphere (in Chinese), Meteorological Monthly, 30 (11): 24-26
Editor: Yanjun Guo
Chief Editor: Qiyi Wang
Technical assistant: Chaoyang Sun