Authors
Alan M Rhoades, Joshua Snowball North, William Rudisill, Benjamin J Hatchett, Mark Risser, Areidy Beltran-Peña, Anne Heggli, Scott Hotaling, Laurie S Huning, Andrew Joros, Matthew LaPlante, Ankur Mahesh, Adrienne M Marshall, Rachel McCrary, Daniel McEvoy, Stefan Rahimi, Mark S Raleigh, Calen Randall, Abhishekh Srivastava, Michael Wehner, Yang Zhou, Andrew D Jones
Published in
Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 32. Pages eaeb3361. Aug 07, 2026. Epub Aug 05, 2026.
Abstract
Abrupt snowmelt, triggered by rain-on-snow events or "snow-eater heat waves," can cause flooding, initiate or accelerate snow drought, and affect water availability. However, the characteristics (e.g., area, duration, and frequency), impacts, and trends of snow-eater heat waves have received little attention. To address this gap, we developed a method to identify snow-eater heat waves and estimate their melt potential using 20th Century Reanalysis version 3 air temperature data, the TempestExtremes algorithm, and an operational snowmelt model (SNOW-17) across 1850-2015. Melt season snow-eater heat waves typically last 3 to 5 days, with three to five events, doubling snowmelt rates. Seven of 11 spring superfloods are shown to coincide with snow-eater heat waves. Since the 1850s, snow-eater heat waves have increased in area and frequency, decreased in duration, and shifted earlier in the melt season. Incorporating snow-eater heat-wave impacts into SNOW-17 enhances extreme melt estimates, improving water management support tools.
PMID:
42555720
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Aug 2026.
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