Snow Cover and Snowstorms Regime on the Stavropol Upland

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the study of the regime of snow cover and snowstorm phenomena in the Stavropol Upland in the first twenty years of the twenty-first century. It is shown that against the background of increasing winter temperatures, the timing of snow cover appearance shifts to later dates, and periods of continuous snow cover for 30 days or more are observed only in 30% of years. In addition, on the Stavropol Upland there is a decrease in the number of days with snow cover, a decrease in the frequency of years with stable snow cover, and an increase in the frequency of snowless months of the cold period, especially November and December. Also, comparison of the current characteristics of the snowstorm regime with the data for the previous multi-year periods showed that the frequency and duration of snowstorms in the Stavropol Upland decreased, despite an increase in the number of days with strong winds. The main reason for the changes occurring is primarily an increase of air temperature in winter and transitional periods of the year.