The relationship between Eurasian snow cover extent (SCE) and Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation is studied in reanalysis during 1979-2014 and in CMIP5 preindustrial control runs. In observations, dipolar SCE anomalies in November, with negative anomalies over eastern Europe and positive anomalies over eastern Siberia, are followed by a negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) one and two months later. In models, this effect is largely underestimated, but four models simulate such a relationship. In observations and these models, the SCE influence is primarily due to the eastern Siberian pole, which is itself driven by the Scandinavian pattern (SCA), with a large anticyclonic anomaly over the Urals. The SCA is also responsible for a link between Eurasian SCE anomalies and sea ice concentration (SIC) anomalies in the Barents-Kara Sea.
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