Can Trends in Snowmelt Streamflow Be Explained by Terrain Characteristics or Trends in Vegetation, Precipitation and SWE? An Examination of Small High-elevation Colorado (U.S.A.) Rivers

Streamflow generated from snowmelt is important, and changing, in snow dominated regions of the world. We used a new technique to estimate the start and end of snowmelt streamflow for 39 gauging stations across Colorado over a 40-year period. We determined the timing and volume of water contributed from snowmelt. We analyzed the trend of these streamflow-snowmelt metrics and correlated them to terrain (e.g., elevation, slope, solar loading), canopy, as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), winter precipitation from the Parameter-elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) dataset, and peak SWE from Snow Telemetry (SNTOEL) data. There were some significant correlations with winter precipitation, peak SWE, slope, and latitude, primarily for total annual flow, and the timing and volume of the end of snowmelt streamflow contribution.