A predominance of below-normal snow coverage in the Northern Hemisphere during the first part of the year, and above-normal snow coverage during the latter part of the year (Fig. 23 ), resulted in near-normal annual mean snow cover during 1995 (25 x 106 km2). The coincidence of near-normal snow coverage with near-record land surface temperatures (see Fig. 1) is in marked contrast to the record warm year of 1990 which had the least snow cover in the satellite record. This observation suggests that there is no simple relationship between Northern Hemisphere snow cover area and annual hemispheric mean temperature.
The first half of 1995 was marked by
considerable month-to-month variability in snow cover. Most
notably, considerably below-normal snow coverage
was observed during February and March 1995, while considerably above-normal snow cover
developed during April, mostly over NorthAmerica. This
heavy April snow cover brought North American values
of mean spring snow cover to above normal for the
first time in a decade (Fig. 24a). In contrast,
below-normal snow cover dominated Eurasia during
March-May (Fig. 24b), in association with
significantly warmer-than-normal conditions throughout the
central and northern sectors (see Section
4b). Snow cover during April was extremely low across central
and northern Eurasia (see Fig. 51 ). These conditions
extended the prolonged period of below-normal snow
cover and above-normal surface temperatures that
had dominated Eurasia since the late 1980s.
In contrast to the first part of the year, the last
five months of 1995 showed above-normal snow cover over the Northern
Hemisphere (Fig . 23
) This is the first consecutive 5-month period since 1985 in
which above-normal snow cover was recorded. During
September_November (SON) above-normal snow cover dominated both
North America (Fig. 25a
) and Eurasia (Fig. 25b
). This increased snow cover was associated with
abnormally cold temperatures that developed in both regions,
particularly during the latter months of the year. Snow
cover
