Hydrometeorological instrumentation and automation-past performance, present utilization, and future directions

Snow hydrology is primarily an empirical science. Today's forecaster of snow melt runoff is highly dependent upon intimate knowledge of changes in the site and equipment used to obtain data forming the base for subsequent evaluations. The transactions of the Western Snow Conference detail the transitions that have occurred particularly with respect to equipment and to a lesser degree methods for detailing transitional changes at measurement sites. Todays data base, properly adjusted for transitional changes, is invaluable for refining, with increased statistical significance, many of the forecast methods of the past. Suggestions are made by which todays utilization of the data can be updated, and suggestions are given for the directions to be taken for the future.