Ilari Lehtonen, Petri Hoppula, Pentti Pirinen, Hilppa Gregow. (2014). Modelling crown snow loads in Finland: a comparison of two methods. Silva Fennica vol. 48 no. 3 article id 1120. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1120

Keywords: climate; forests; snow damage; rime; dry snow; wet snow; frozen snow

Highlights: A new method to model crown snow loads is presented and compared with a previously published simpler method; The heaviest crown snow loads in Finland are found to typically occur in the eastern parts of the country; The relative importance of different snow load types varies between different regions of Finland.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The spatial occurrence of heavy crown snow loads in Finland between 1961 and 2010 is studied by using for the first time a model that classifies the snow load into four different types: rime, dry snow, wet snow and frozen snow. In producing this climatology, we used meteorological observations made at 29 locations across Finland. The model performance is evaluated against classified daily images of canopy snow cover and with the help of two short case studies. The results are further compared to those achieved with a simpler method used in previous studies. The heaviest crown snow loads are found to occur typically in eastern Finland. The new method reveals that this holds not only for the total snow loads but also for the different snow load types, although there are certain differences in their geographical occurrence. The greatest benefit achieved with the new method is the inclusion of rime accretion. The forests most prone to heavy riming are those located on tree-covered hills in northern Finland, but as the terrain elevation affects riming efficiency greatly, these small-scale variations in the snow load amounts could not be described in this study in great detail. Moreover, the results are more inaccurate in northern Finland where variations in the terrain elevation are greater than elsewhere. Otherwise, the largest uncertainties in this study are related to wind speed measurements and possibly partly because of that, we were not able to detect any significant trends in the crown snow-load amounts over the study period.

Lehtonen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ilari.lehtonen@fmi.fi
Hoppula, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: petri.hoppula@fmi.fi
Pirinen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: pentti.pirinen@fmi.fi
Gregow, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hilppa.gregow@fmi.fi

article id 30, category Research article

Hilppa Gregow, Heli Peltola, Mikko Laapas, Seppo Saku, Ari Venäläinen. (2011). Combined occurrence of wind, snow loading and soil frost with implications for risks to forestry in Finland under the current and changing climatic conditions. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 1 article id 30. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.30

Keywords: A1B-scenario; climate change; snow loads; soil frost; stem breakage; uprooting; wind

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This work focuses on the combined occurrence of wind, snow loading and soil frost with implications for risks to forestry in Finland under the current and changing climatic conditions. For this purpose, we employ meteorological datasets, available for the period of 1971–2009 and global climate model (GCM) simulations for the current climate 1971–2000, and periods 2046–65 and 2081–2100 applying the A1B-climate change scenario. Based on our results, the wind and snow induced risks to Finnish forests are projected to increase in the future although the change in the occurrence of strong winds is small. This is because soil frost depths that support tree anchorage from late autumn to early spring in Finland are projected to nearly disappear in the southern and central parts of the country. Heavy snow loads > 30 kg m^–2 are becoming more common in southern and eastern Finland despite that the average cumulative 5-day snow loads decrease in these areas by 18 to 50%, respectively. As a result of the changes in the combined occurrence of wind, snow loading and soil frost, the risk of climatic conditions making conifers liable to uprooting are projected to increase in southern, central and eastern Finland. In the north, the risk of stem breakage is becoming more pronounced under snow loading > 20 kg m^–2. Despite some uncertainties related to this work, we assume that the findings can serve as valuable support for the risk assessment of wind and snow induced damages to Finnish forests and for forestry, in general.

Gregow, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hilppa.gregow@fmi.fi
Peltola, University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: heli.peltola@uef.fi
Laapas, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ml@nn.fi
Saku, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ss@nn.fi
Venäläinen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: av@nn.fi

article id 231, category Research article

Hilppa Gregow, Ulla Puranen, Ari Venäläinen, Heli Peltola, Seppo Kellomäki, David Schultz. (2008). Temporal and spatial occurrence of strong winds and large snow load amounts in Finland during 1961-2000. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 4 article id 231. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.231

Keywords: soil frost; coniferous forest; wind climate; precipitation; snow

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Information on the temporal and spatial occurrence of strong winds and snow loads on trees is important for the risk management of wind- and snow-induced damage. Meteorological measurements made at 19 locations across Finland during 1961–2000 are used to understand the temporal and spatial occurrence of strong winds and large snow loads. A Kriging interpolation method was used to produce a spatial analysis of wind-speed events above 11 m s–1, 14 m s–1, and greater or equal to 17 m s–1 and snowfall accumulation above 20 kg m–2 and 30 kg m–2. According to the analysis, wind speeds exceeded 14 m s–1 at least 155 times and reached 17 m s–1 only 5 times at inland locations during the 40 years. Large snowfall accumulations were more frequent in the higher-elevation inland areas than along the coast. The snow load on trees exceeded 20 kg m–2 about 65 times a year when averaged over all 40 years, but was as high as 150 times a year during the mild 1990s. The maximum number of heavy snow-load events occurred in 1994 in northern Finland, consistent with a forest inventory by the Finnish Forest Research Institute in 1992–1994. The findings of this study imply that the risk of wind-induced damage is highest in the late autumn when trees do not have the additional support of frozen soil. In contrast, the risk of snow-induced damage is highest at higher-elevations inland, especially in northern Finland.

* Erratum (23 Oct 2012): The authors have requested inclusion of an additional author. Author information should thus be as follows: Hilppa Gregow, Ulla Puranen, Ari Venäläinen, Heli Peltola, Seppo Kellomäki & David Schultz

Gregow, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hilppa.gregow@fmi.fi
Puranen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: up@nn.fi
Venäläinen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: av@nn.fi
Peltola, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: heli.peltola@uef.fi
Kellomäki, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: seppo.kellomaki@uef.fi
Schultz, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ds@nn.fi

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