Global Scale Features Associated with Winter Weather Systems during 2016-17

Abstract

The global features during the northern winter from December 2016 to February 2017 associated with winter weather systems over the nothern India is discussed in the present article.  The Sea Surface Temperature (SST) over the equatorial Pacific & Indian Oceans, Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), convective activity, maximum & minimum temperature, circulation features, rainfall, northern hemispheric snow cover conditions and its variability during the winter seasons are presented in this article.  The SST anomalies over Nino3.4 region indicated borderline ENSO neutral conditions in January 2017 and also continued during February, whereas, the dipole mode index during January and February 2017 also shows neutral Indian ocean dipole conditions caused by the cooling of eastern equatorial Indian Ocean.  The winter season of 2016-17 witnessed mainly a warmer maximum and minimum temperature (Tmax and Tmin) over northern India. The above normal rainfall is observed over the northern India only during the month of January, 2017, whereas, rainfall was subdued during December and February. The winter snow cover over Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Eurasian region indicated above normal snow during the winter seasons of 2016-17.