Snow line

The current snow line can be seen in the lower third of the photo. This is identical to the snow falling limit of the last snow precipitate if it stays are recently snowed and the snow at temperatures below 0 ° C and it did not previously had a deeper snow line in the latter case.

The snowfall limit is the height above sea level above which more than 50% of the precipitation falls in the form of snow . It's raining below the snow line . In contrast to this, the snow line in the mountains refers to the snow cover and the frost line to the altitude at which the 0 ° C limit on the ground is undershot.

Snow line and weather

As a rule of thumb, it is often stated that snow falls to about three hundred meters below the zero degree limit (or the 2 degree limit). However, in many cases this is inaccurate because the dew point is not taken into account. Much larger fluctuations occur in mountainous terrain, the reasons being cold air lakes , thermal up , down and down winds and others.

The snow line is published on meteorological maps . In addition to the height of the snow line, these also indicate the amount of precipitation to be expected in l / m ² or mm.

Snow line and climate

While the tropical zones of the world - except on mountains over 5000 m - are constantly free of snow, in Mediterranean areas it snows occasionally and in mid- latitudes regularly on at least some winter days , the snow days . In the Arctic and Antarctic , the snow line is at low sea levels almost all year round .

Web links

Wiktionary: snow line  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Explanation of the meteorological maps for the snow line in the Swiss Storm Forum www.meteoradar.ch
• Determining the snow line - simple rules of thumb at www.wetter-express.de
• Determination of the snowfall limit in the forum of www.wetterzentrale.de
• Video: Case study on the snow line in the Bavarian Forest , storm chaser Martin Zoidl