Background

Mountain snowpack in the midlatitudes is a seasonal water tower that varies heavily from year to year. As a water resource, considerably large snowpacks can present a flood risk, while small snowpacks can exacerbate drought conditions in some regions. It is important, then, to be able to understand and predict the snowpack amount and when it will melt. One key requisite (though not exhaustive) is to characterize its cold content (CC), or the amount of energy required to begin melting it. It is a function of the snowpack’s density and temperature profile…