The Delineation of the Rain/snow Line on the Side of a Mountain from Different Approaches and their Effects on Runoff

Various algorithms that are presented in the literature or used operationally are applied to a series of archetypal heavy orographic precipitation events. These archetypes are created by compositing events with certain shared characteristics (i.e. warm vs. cold, zonal vs. meridonal, etc). Differences in the elevation of the rain/snow line for these archetypes are quantified. A streamflow model is then used to assess the effects changes in the rain/snow line have on the total runoff for select basins (the American, Salt and Colorado river basins).