Observed variability, trend, and extremes of snowpack over the U.S. and its impact on drought monitoring

Xubin Zeng

Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson

Tuesday, Sep 22, 2020, 2:00 pm
Webinar

Abstract

Snowpack plays an important role in understanding and predicting weather and climate. We have recently developed the first daily 4 km snow mass and snow depth dataset from 1981 to present over conterminous U.S. (CONUS) by consistently assimilating snowpack measurements from hundreds of government sites (SNOTEL) and tens of thousands of volunteer sites (COOP). Our method and dataset have passed five rigorous tests. In this talk, I will overview our recent snowpack-related work:

a) Variability and trends of snowpack over CONUS and their drivers

b) Extremes of snowmelt over CONUS and associated synoptic patterns

c) Impact of snowpack on the NCEP/CPC water balance model in drought monitoring and prediction