Analysis of recent meteorological configurations responsible for substantial snowfalls in the Trentine sector of the Adige valley bottom (eastern italian Alps).

This work aims at analyzing synoptic conditions favourable to snowfall with more than 10 cm of fresh snow cover along the bottom of the Trentine sector of the Adige Valley (Eastern Italian Alps). The mid portion of the Adige Valley features climatic-dynamic conditions leading almost every year to relevant snowfalls affecting the valley bottom too. All the events observed from 1976 to 2006 were analyzed using the data recorded at the Trento Roncafort (194 m a.s.l.), Trento Laste (312 m a.s.l.) and Rovereto (203 m a.s.l.) meteo-climatic stations. Through study and analysis of ground and 500 hPa geopotential meteo maps, satellite imagery, thermodynamic diagrams of the nearest sounding stations and records of nivo-meteorological stations, the synoptic types characterizing snowfalls were studied and classified; a clusterisation was made too. Analyses outlined that in the area snowfalls typically are of a “sliding” type and are mainly connected with a flux of southern wind. The two most recent substantial snowfalls confirm the results of the analyses carried out on thirty years of data.