Changing Characteristics of Snowfall and Snowfall Days in Liaoning Province during 1961-2007

In this paper,the daily snowfall data were extracted from the daily precipitation and snow weather phenomena of 52 stations in Liaoning province from 1961 to 2008.Using daily snowfall data,the spatial distribution,long-term change,the catastrophe features,the periodic characteristics of snowfall and snowfall days were analyzed.The results showed that the snowfall and snowfall days were in the maximum in January and in the minimum in April and October in the province.In the 47 years,there was no significant long-term changing trend of snowfall,but there was a significant decreasing trend of snowfall days,1.6 days every decade.The remarkable reduction of snowfall days was mainly due to the reduction of days of light snow and trace snow,especially the trace snow.There was no obvious abrupt change of snowfall.However,there was a marked abrupt change of snowfall days in 1988.There was a period of 6~8 a in the variation cycle of snowfall and snowfall days.