The effect of weather map scale on the results of A synoptic climatology

The results of an objective synoptic climatology of glacier mass balance in south‐western Canada are affected by the scale and degree of generality of the synoptic patterns used. Two scales of 500 mb daily weather maps are compared. Statistical analysis shows little direct relationship between the two scales: the smaller, high wave number patterns vary randomly within the more general flow of the larger circulation patterns. However, further analysis suggests that the smaller synoptic patterns control glacier mass balance in coastal British Columbia. Glacier accumulation in the Canadian Rockies is more closely related to larger‐scale atmospheric flow.