Fig. 1: Snowpack can explain much of the interannual variability in summer flow volume. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 1: Snowpack can explain much of the interannual variability in summer flow volume.

From: Snow monitoring at strategic locations improves water supply forecasting more than basin-wide mapping

Fig. 1

a Daily SWE measured at a snow pillow station across the 23-year period from WY 2001–2023 (lines). b Cumulative flow volume since April 1st at the stream gauge in each of the 23 years. The colors of lines in (a) and (b) correspond to the same years, where warmer colors are years with lower peak SWE and cooler colors are years with higher peak SWE (see color bar). c Conceptual graphic of fractional variance explained (R2) in summer (April–July) water supply by monthly snowpack data and other factors. The solid line is the hypothetical maximum variance (R2potential) that can be explained by snowpack data on a given date. The dashed line is the variance explained by the existing snow stations (R2stations). The difference in darker gray (ΔR2= R2potential - R2stations) is the additional predictability possible from an expansion of snowpack observations. The remaining variance (R2remaining) is unexplainable by snowpack data and is above the solid black line, where R2remaining + R2potential = 1. Note this graphic assumes a shrinking target period after 1 April (see “Methods”).

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