NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
NH Snow Cover Extent
| April 2016 | Snow Cover Extent | Anomaly 1991-2020 | Trend per decade | Rank (50 years) | Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| million km² | million mi² | million km² | million mi² | million km² | million mi² | Year(s) | million km² | million mi² | |||
| Northern Hemisphere | 27.91 | 10.78 | -2.02 | -0.78 | -0.51 | -0.20 | Largest | 50th | 1979 | 34.61 | 13.36 |
| Smallest | 1st | 2016 | 27.91 | 10.78 | |||||||
| North America | 12.43 | 4.80 | -0.74 | -0.29 | -0.13 | -0.05 | Largest | 40th | 1975 | 15.08 | 5.82 |
| Smallest | 11th | 2010 | 11.02 | 4.25 | |||||||
| Eurasia | 15.48 | 5.98 | -1.28 | -0.49 | -0.38 | -0.15 | Largest | 46th | 1981 | 20.69 | 7.99 |
| Smallest | 5th | 2014 | 14.77 | 5.70 | |||||||
Data Source: Global Snow Laboratory, Rutgers University. Period of record: 1967–2016 (50 years)
During April, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent (SCE) was 27.91 million square km (10.78 million square miles), 2.31 million square km (890,000 square miles) below the 1981-2010 average. This was the smallest April SCE for the Northern Hemisphere in the 50-year period of record and 90,000 square km (30,000 square miles) smaller than the previous record set in 1968. April Northern Hemisphere SCE is decreasing at an average rate of 1.7 percent per decade. During April both the North American and Eurasian SCE were below average.
The April North American SCE was 12.43 million square km (4.80 million square miles), 610,000 square km (230,000 square miles) below the 1981-2010 average, the 11th smallest on record. This was the smallest April SCE for North America since 2012. The April North American SCE is decreasing at an average rate of 1.0 percent per decade. During the month, above-average snow cover was observed for parts of the Great Lakes and the Central U.S. Rockies and Great Plains. Below-average snow cover was observed across much of Alaska, the U.S. Northwest, as well as the Canadian Rockies and Prairies. The contiguous U.S. April SCE was the 19th smallest on record, Canada the 13th smallest, and the Alaska April SCE was record small.
The Eurasian SCE during April was 15.48 million square km (5.98 million square miles), 1.69 million square km (650,000 square miles) below average, and ranked as the fifth smallest on record. The Eurasian SCE during April is decreasing at an average rate of 2.2 percent per decade. Above-average snow cover was observed across parts of the Tibetan Plateau, southeastern Russia, Mongolia, and parts of the European Alps. Below-average snow cover was observed for much of Eastern Europe, including all of western Russia, northern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and most of Japan.
Sea Ice Extent
The Northern and Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent product has been suspended due to a satellite sensor failure. More information is available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).