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According to the first monitoring data on snow published in Italy CIMA Foundation (National Center for Environmental Monitoring) for winter season 2023 Once it started, snow accumulation across the country saw a significant increase deficit -44%.
Snow monitoring is essential as this resource is critical within the network hydrological cycle, which regulates the transport and passage of water through its three main states (solid, gas, and liquid) in the main natural reservoirs of the Earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and cryosphere). In this context, snow represents a water supply for the spring and summer months when melting feeds downstream rivers. The snow deficit therefore means a decrease in the water reservoir available for the territory of the state in the following months.
What follows from the snow report in Italy
The parameter measured by the CIMA Foundation is lo The equivalent of snow and water (“Nivale Water Equivalent”), which describes the amount of water available in the snow. Francesco Avanzi, a researcher at the foundation, stated:
Unfortunately, in the three years we’ve been doing our monitoring, what we’ve observed is always the same deficit in the Italian equivalent of snow water. This also applies to these last months of 2023: despite the beginning of November with good snowfall in fact, today the state deficit is -44%.
However, the situation is quite varied, above average in terms of snow cover in Valle d’Aosta northwest and pro-Central Alpswhile the rest have a significant deficit Alps. We are talking about sectors that, in addition, represent the most important water “stock” of the peninsula, because they feed the watershed which currently records a deficit -of 36%. In fact, at the level of the three basins of greatest interest for national snow hydrology (Po, Adige, and Tiber), the data show a similar deficit between the Alpine and Apennine regions.
The reasons for the snow deficit in Italy
Two main factors contribute to determining snow accumulation: temperature AND precipitation. Not unexpected protagonists, but with a vital and synergistic role, who unfortunately have not yet worked together this year. If November recorded lower temperatures in most of the Alps than in recent years, in the Southwestern Alps and in the Apennines on the contrary, temperatures were higher. These factors are primarily responsible for the current snow-water equivalent deficit joined by a significant precipitation deficit in November and early December, especially in the western Alps and northern Apennines.
In this regard, Avanzi emphasizes:
Snowpack building is a team effort that requires sustained cold and wet conditions. On the other hand, as we have been saying for some time, snow accumulation is like a marathon, that is, the snow must be able to accumulate continuously, for a relatively long time. We are now only at the beginning of the snow season: for example, in the Apennines, we have just recorded the first snowfalls of the year. The situation may change significantly in the coming months.
