Snow Cover Distribution
Effect of Topography
- The depth of seasonal snow cover usually increases with elevation if other influencing factors do not vary with elevation
- This trend is generally due to:
- increase in the number of snowfall events
- decrease in evaporation and melt
- The rate of increase with elevation may vary widely from year-to-year
- However, elevation alone is not a causative factor in snow cover distribution
- Many other factors must be considered:
- slope, aspect, vegetation, wind, temperature, and characteristics of the parent weather systems