A comparison of several snow accumulation and ablation algorithms used in watershed modeling

The snow water contribution to the water supply during the forage growing season is the major component of the water supply available on much of the rangeland in the Western United States. In such situations the behavior of the snowpack both during its accumulation and melt period constitutes the major determinant of the surface runoff, both in the amount and timing. The algorithms employed within several models developed to simultate the hydrologic response of such watersheds were tested and compared. The climatic driving variables for the models included minimum, maximum and average air temperature, precipitation and potential solar insolation. The algorithm employed in the NWSRFS model developed by Eric A. Anderson most closely matched the measured snow course values used for the testing.