Abstract
Abstract
Snow cover affects many natural processes, including determining and regulating the water balance, determining spring runoff. The aridity of the climate in the southern Rostov region causes water scarcity in the region. The purpose of this work is to study the variability of snow cover in the settlement Gigant for the period from 1961 to 2019. The main task is to determine the changes in the dynamics of snow cover, analyze the number of days with snow and the average snow height for the study period. The analysis included the height of the snow cover, the number of days with snow, and the average annual temperatures. The data of route snow-measuring surveys were statistically analyzed. A decrease in the number of days with snow was revealed, which is explained by frequent thaws and instability of negative temperatures. There is a tendency to decrease the snow cover in winter and an increase in the number of thaws.