Review of the manuscript egusphere-2024-2845 entitled “PDO-driven interdecadal variability of snowfall over the Karakoram and Western Himalaya” by Bharati et al.

Snowfall not only affects the mass balance of glaciers but is also an important source of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas. The Karakoram and Western Himalaya regions are home to numerous high mountain glaciers, serving as the sources for rivers such as the Indus, Tarim, and Amu Darya. The unique characteristics of the Karakoram anomaly have drawn sustained attention from the academic community. This article explores the relationship between the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and winter snowfall in the Karakoram-Western Himalaya region, analyzing the mechanisms involved. The paper is well-written and presents a clear line of thought. I recommend that the paper be published in Weather and Climate Dynamics following revisions.

#Major

Lines 98-104: While these interdecadal factors (PDO, IPO, and AMO) significantly influence global climate, could you explain why this article focuses solely on the impact of the PDO?

Lines 107-109: A published study examines the impact of the PDO on non-monsoon season precipitation in the northwestern Himalayas, highlighting its role in regulating westerly disturbances (Aggarwal et al. 2024, CD). Please introduce it here and emphasize the differences with this work.

From Figure 1a, it can be observed that the precipitation values from the reanalysis data are significantly higher than those from the assimilated grid precipitation data. Additionally, the reanalysis data exhibits more pronounced interdecadal variability. What factors contribute to this discrepancy? This article is primarily based on ERA5 data. what impact does this have on the results? Please discuss.

From your analysis, it is clear that there is a significant correlation between PDO, WD, and snowfall. However, the article does not clearly explain how the PDO influences the westerly disturbances in the Karakoram-Western Himalayan region through teleconnection processes. Additionally, is it possible to validate the process by which the PDO affects winter snowfall in the Karakoram-Western Himalayan region through modeling experiments?

#Minor

Line 76: Add a space before WD.

Please include some recent references in the introduction.

Line 126: The following analysis uses data up to 2023 (Table 1), but here mentions data only up to 2022. Please check.

Line 162: Could you clarify the temporal resolution of the data used for the calculations in this section?

Lines 206-217: When calculating the correlation of snowfall in the Karakoram -Western Himalaya region with other indices, was the part of the region with significantly positive correlation coefficients (Fig 2a) excluded? If not, I recommend excluding it before recalculating, as this will likely yield more reliable results.

Line 453: I did not see any information regarding significance testing, please check. If there isn't any, please add it.

Figure 6, please use the same aspect ratio (width to height).

Related references:

Aggarwal D, Chakraborty R, Attada R. Investigating bi-decadal precipitation changes over the Northwest Himalayas during the pre-monsoon: role of Pacific decadal oscillations. Climate Dynamics. 2024 Feb;62(2):1203-18.

Dimri AP, Pooja, Jeelani G, Mohanty UC. Western disturbances vs Non-western disturbances days winter precipitation. Climate Dynamics. 2023 Nov;61(9):4825-47.