VAWS Webinar – Assessing Shifts in Alaska Rain-On-Snow Winter Seasonality

Speaker: Tricia Hutton, Ph.D. Student in Earth System Science with a concentration in Atmospheric and Climate Science

Abstract: Rain falling on snow-covered ground, called rain-on-snow (ROS) events, can create ice layers that last until spring, creating hazards to transportation, wildlife, and powerlines in Alaska. These events are challenging to study due to Alaska’s mountainous terrain and the limited number of weather station observations. To address this, high-resolution reanalysis data from the winter season 1950 through 2022 were used to examine when and where ROS events happen across the state. This study found that the majority of these events occur in the early winter season, November and December, with coastal regions experiencing ROS more often with higher accumulations of rain than interior Alaska. Over this dataset, a seasonal shift is seen with an increase in December ROS, leading to increased development of a thick ice layer that will last through spring melt. This provides information needed for future planning for communities’ safety, infrastructure, and ecosystems as the climate continues to change.

Bio: Tricia Hutton is an Atmospheric and Climate Science Ph.D. researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). She holds a B.S. in Meteorology and Earth Science from SUNY Brockport and an M.S. in Earth System Science from UAF. Working alongside Dr. Peter Bieniek, Tricia continues her graduate research focused on Earth system dynamic interactions and climate science.

VAWS is supported by a grant to the Geographic Information Network of Alaska at the University of Alaska Fairbanks through the NOAA Grant NA24NESX432C0001 Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS) at the University of Maryland Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center.