Relationships between atmospheric teleconnection indexes, North American snow cover, and cyclonic activity

The radiative properties of snow cover have been known to produce a feedback with the air above it by cooling the air and producing changes in the atmospheric flow regimes in the area around it. If the flow regimes are affected, then the cyclone activity associated with the flow regime should also be affected. This study investigates the relationships that snow cover over North America during November through March, 1966–1980 had with cyclone activity and two flow regimes that dominate North American winters: the Pacific/North American (PNA) teleconnection pattern and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The PNA and NAO indexes indicate the strength and general nature of the pattern.; T-tests, correlation analysis and principal components analysis produced generally consistent, though not convincing, results. Snow cover in the west is best related to the PNA pattern and cyclones there and during December and January. The NAO is related more to cyclones and snow cover east of the Rocky Mountains and later in the season. Generally, the geographic and temporal variations in the relationships of the teleconnections to snow cover and cyclones found in this dissertation are consistent with the findings of similar studies.