Seasonal relationship between temperature, precipitation and snow cover in a mountainous region
| Résumé |
An analysis of correlation coefficients for climatological data
covering the period 1901-1994 or 1931-1994 for six locations in
Switzerland has been made in order to highlight the relationships
between temperature, precipitation (rain and snow) and snow in
summer and in winter. The results show that colder summers tend to
be associated with more precipitation, mainly in terms of the
frequency of occurrence of precipitation, but also in terms of its
abundancy. In winter, sites located at lower altitudes behave
differently from those at higher elevations. At lower altitudes,
warmer winters tend to be rainier and to have less snow (only a
small part of winter precipitation falls in the form of snow).
Above 1000-1500 m, correlations between temperature on the one
hand, and precipitation or snow on the other, tend to be weaker
than at lower elevations; warmer winters are associated with less
snow but also with less precipitation in general, while the
relationship between precipitation and snow is stronger. These
results confirm that during cold periods of the past, such as
Lobben Phase (1400 BC-1230 BC) cold summers were probably linked to
frequent and abundant precipitation. These conditions led to
increased mortality as well as to population migrations. In terms
of potential future global warming if the current
temperature/precipitation relationships remain unchanged, then
warmer summers will likely be linked to a decrease in
precipitation. Higher winter temperatures can be expected to lead
to a general decrease of snow and to a decrease in precipitation,
but only at higher elevations; warmer winters would conversely be
associated with an increase in precipitation at lower altitudes. |
| Mots-clés |
EUROPE |
| Citation | Rebetez, M. (1996). Seasonal relationship between temperature, precipitation and snow cover in a mountainous region. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 54(3-4), 99-106. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Français) |
| Date de publication | 1996 |
| Nom du périodique | Theoretical and Applied Climatology |
| Volume | 54 |
| Numéro | 3-4 |
| Pages | 99-106 |