The relationships of the general circulation and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) index anomalies [e.g., the East Asian trough location index (CW), Siberian High intensity index (SH)] with the winter snowfall (WS) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), as well as the interdecadal characteristics, during 1961-2010, are analyzed. The results show that: 1) The abnormalities of winter planetary waves in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) impact on the WS over the TP on interdecadal scales; 2) The variations of the planetary wave pattern in the NH, “Three Troughs/Ridges in winter”, are the background circulation for the WS change over the TP on interdecadal scales; 3) The WS over the TP and the EAWM indices indicate significant correlation on interdecadal scales; 4) The WS increases over the TP with a decreasing trend of the EAWM during 1961-1986; 5) The WS over the TP, the CW and SH, all show an abrupt change around 1986. After this abrupt change, the intensity of the winter “three troughs” pattern demonstrates a stronger variation, while the amount of WS over the TP declines.