Snow cover variations across China from 1951–2018

Abstract. Based on a snow depth dataset retrieved from meteorological stations, this experiment explored snow indices, including snow depth (SD), snow covered days (SCDs), and snow phenology variations, across China from 1951 to 2018. The results indicated that the snow cover in China exhibits regional differences. The annual mean SD tended to increase, and the increases in mean and maximum snow depth were 0.04 cm and 0.1 cm per decade, respectively. SCDs tended to increase by approximately 0.5 days per decade. The significant increases were concentrated at latitudes higher than 40° N, especially in Northeast China. However, in the Tibetan Plateau, the SD and SCDs tended to decrease but not significantly. Regarding the snow phenology variations, the snow duration days in China decreased, and 25.2 % of the meteorological stations showed significant decreasing trends. This result was mainly caused by the postponement of the snow onset date and the advancement of the snow end date. Geographical and meteorological factors are closely related to snow cover, especially the change in temperature, which will lead to significant changes in snow depth and phenology.