This indicator uses two different measures to show how snowfall has changed in the contiguous 48 states.
This indicator tracks total snowfall as well as the percentage of precipitation that falls in the form of snow versus rain. These data were collected from hundreds of weather stations across the contiguous 48 states.
Total snowfall is determined by the height of snow that accumulates each day. These measured values commonly appear in weather reports (for example, a storm that deposits 10 inches of snow). Figure 1 shows how snowfall accumulation totals changed between 1930 and 2007 at more than 400 weather stations. These stations were selected because they had high-quality data for this entire time period.
Figure 2 shows trends in the proportion of total precipitation that falls in the form of snow during each winter season. This is called the “snow-to-precipitation” ratio, and it is based on comparing the amount of snowfall with the total amount of precipitation (snow plus rain) in each year. For this comparison, snow has been converted to the equivalent amount of liquid water. These data are available from 1949 to 2016.
