Abstract. Driven by growing impacts of changing precipitation amounts and phase on the Arctic’s natural and built environment, we examine seasonal patterns and trends in Arctic precipitation and partitioning between its liquid and solid forms. Use is made of data from the ERA5 reanalysis, Automated Surface Observing System stations over land, and a climatology based on present weather reports over the Arctic Ocean. In the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, most precipitation falls as rain in all seasons in the extreme south, but snowfall is high over its northern parts. Annual precipitation over the dry central Arctic Ocean and terrestrial polar deserts almost always falls as snow. Even during the summer, typically 50 % of precipitation over the central Arctic Ocean falls as snow. Over land, nearly all summer precipitation falls as rain, except in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago where summer snowfall is still common. Annual precipitation has increased since 1979, primarily in the Barents Sea sector, accompanied by generally downward trends in snowfall and, hence, upward trends in liquid precipitation. Across much of the Arctic, the rainfall to total precipitation ratio has increased only in summer, while in the Atlantic sector, the rainfall to total precipitation ratio has increased in all seasons.
Cast et al. (Tue,) studied this question.