As the population and industrial infrastructure of the United States continue to grow, the demand for water and the need to forecast water resources accurately are intensifying. Hence, the National Weather Service maintains a set of conceptual, continuous, hydrologic simulation models used to generate extended streamflow predictions, water supply outlooks and flood forecasts that are the basis for major water management and disaster emergency services decisions for the United States. A vital component of the hydrologic simulation models is a snow accumulation and ablation model that uses observed temperature and precipitation data to simulate snow cover conditions. The simulated model states are updated throughout the snow season using [...]
