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SNOW-17(VEG) - Vegetation density driven SNOW-17 model
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Created: Jun 25, 2026 at 6:54 p.m. (UTC)
Last updated: Jul 12, 2026 at 10:26 p.m. (UTC)
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Abstract

Climate change and a long history of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the frequency and extent of high-severity wildfires across the western United Sates. Forest treatments such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are commonly used strategies to reduce wildfire severity and improve forest resilience. Because of the importance of vegetation cover on the timing and quantity of snow accumulation and melt, both forest treatment and wildfire can affect snowpack behavior in important ways. Here, we develop SNOW-17(VEG), an adaptation of the widely used and validated SNOW-17 temperature index model that incorporates vegetation structure. Statistical evaluation of SNOW-17(VEG) indicated strong agreement between simulated and observed snowpack conditions in a seasonal snowpack when comparing dense forest to a high severity burn scar in Colorado (NSE: 0.95, 0.94; Pbias: 3.4, -2.6; R: 0.97, 0.94). In an ephemeral snowpack in New Mexico, while performance was weaker in terms of absolute magnitude, the model reproduced key differences in snow accumulation and melt timing among dense forest, thinned forest, and high severity burn scar conditions (NSE: 0.84, 0.86, 0.92; Pbias: 56.3, 57.7, 26.7; R: 0.91, 0.90, 0.95). SNOW-17(VEG) provides a low-data framework for evaluating the influence of forest management and wildfire disturbance on snow accumulation and melt in mountain watersheds with available temperature and precipitation observations. The model may support scenario analysis for forest management, water resources planning, and wildfire-related risk assessment.

Subject Keywords

Coverage

Spatial

Coordinate System/Geographic Projection:
WGS 84 EPSG:4326
Coordinate Units:
Decimal degrees
North Latitude
40.9301°
East Longitude
-103.2495°
South Latitude
35.3353°
West Longitude
-108.8965°

Content

README.txt 

There are two study areas that were tested with SNOW-17(VEG)
Cameron Peak - The Cameron Peak Fire burn scar study area is in the Cache la Poudre watershed in northern Colorado. The Cameron Peak Fire occurred in 2020 and is Colorado’s largest fire on record. It burned for nearly four months, and spanned 84,544 hectares. Established study sites lie at around 3020 meters in elevation and extend across both unburned forest and a high severity burn scar. These study sites are approximately 3.8 kilometers north of the Joe Wright SNOTEL station which lies at 3091 meters in elevation. Sites were established by McGrath et al

Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon - The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon site is located on Collin’s Lake Ranch in Cleveland, New Mexico. The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire occurred in 2022 and is New Mexico’s largest fire on record. It lasted about four months and burned close to 138,402 hectares. Study sites established by Rotche et al that lie at around 2367 m in elevation were used for this model. Data included six study sites with daily point SWE measurements for water years 2024 and 2025. The SWE data were calculated from observed snow depths using the methodology from Hill et al.(2019). that applies a generalized equation based on 1km resolution climatological variables, snow depth, and day of water year to produce a power-law relationship. Two sites are within the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon high severity burn scar, two are within treated Ponderosa Pine forest, and two are within dense Ponderosa Pine forest. The two sites of each forest type were averaged to get one SWE level per forest type per day. Because these data have already been converted to SWE, are daily, and are labeled with forest type, they were able to be directly placed in the SNOW-17(VEG) model with no further processing. 

Running SNOW-17(VEG) is a two step calibration process:
1. Calibrate station data to SNOW-17
2. Calibrate veg zones in SNOW-17(VEG)

Related Resources

This resource belongs to the following collections:
Title Owners Sharing Status My Permission
SNOW-17(VEG) Lindsey Rotche  Public &  Shareable Open Access

Credits

Funding Agencies

This resource was created using funding from the following sources:
Agency Name Award Title Award Number
U.S. National Science Foundation SRS RN: Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West 2115169

How to Cite

Rotche, L., Webb, R., McGrath, D., Lin, Y. C. (2026). SNOW-17(VEG) - Vegetation density driven SNOW-17 model, HydroShare, http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/5ce3ea59e78e475d8ccdb9eda16d1ab2

This resource is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY.

 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
CC-BY

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