Winter hoar frost conditions on Swedish roads in a warming climate

Abstract

As one of the most common reasons for slippery roads in wintertime, hoar frost can reduce surface friction and affect traffic safety. The risk of winter road hoar frost is subjected to changes in the warming climate. A better understanding of these changes could lead to improved forecasting of hoar frost risk and provide information to policymakers in making climate adaptation strategies. In this work, the decadal variation in winter road hoar frost risk between 2000 and 2016 in Sweden was examined by using in situ observations from 244 stations in the Swedish Road Weather Information System. Results show that hoar frost risks have decreased in the south of Sweden (south of 59°N), whilst increasing in central Sweden (approximately 59°–65°N). Hoar frost risk tends to increase (decrease) in regions where there is a relatively high (low) mean number of hoar frost risk days. Further analysis indicates that the strengthened winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) over the last few decades, which resulted in warmer and wetter winters in Sweden, is the main cause of the changes. During strong positive NAO winters, the frequency of blocking anticyclones centred to the south‐west of Sweden significantly decreased and led to more warm and moist air from south‐west being transported to Sweden. The reduction in hoar frost risk in the southern part of Sweden is mainly due to an increase in road surface temperature, while the increasing hoar frost risk in central Sweden is dominated by the increase in relative humidity, which favours the occurrence of hoar frost.