How fast do the snow and ice melt?
Three days with the maximum temperature of about 50 degrees would create enough melting to cause ice breakup on small streams. That amount of warming would also melt two inches of snow. 5. What happens when rain falls on top of snow? Air temperature is still the most important factor in melting snow. Rain will usually not add much heat to the process. At 40 degrees, one inch of rain will only produce a tenth of an inch of added water from snow melt. At the same time, frozen ground will result in more of the available water running off directly to streams. 6. What is a Hydrologic Outlook? A Hydrologic Outlook provides information on hydrometeorological conditions that could cause flooding or impact water supply. This product will typically be issued if precipitation forecasts and/or snowmelt potential indicate the possibility of flooding beyond 36 hours. The Hydrologic Outlook for the spring snowmelt flood potential defines the flood potential from snowmelt based on normal precipitation
