Data for: Forest Fires Increase Vulnerability to Midwinter Rain-on-Snow Snowmelt in the Western Oregon Cascades
Sponsor
Funding by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Research and Development Center, contract #W912HZ2220004.
Document Type
Dataset
Publication Date
2025
Subjects
Climatic changes -- Research, Data sets
Abstract
Forest fires and rain-on-snow events in the seasonal snow zone of the Pacific Northwest are increasing in frequency and magnitude, yet the combined impacts of these events on snowpack and water resources remain poorly understood. We show that forest fires doubled midwinter snowmelt proportions in 2023 and 2024 compared to unburned reference sites in the western Oregon Cascades. Data from snow monitoring and micrometeorological stations installed across an elevational gradient revealed increased snowpack vulnerability during midwinter rain-on-snow events, particularly at mid elevations, where rain-on-snow induced snowmelt accounted for 23% more of total annual melt than at unburned sites. Enhanced net snowpack energy, dominated by longwave radiation at lower and mid elevations, indicates minimal buffering capacity of these already vulnerable snowpacks in high biomass burned forests to increasingly common rain-on-snow events. These findings underscore critical challenges for water managers balancing flood preparation and snowmelt-dependent water storage in a warming climate.
DOI
10.15760/esm-data.6
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43066
Recommended Citation
Ebel, Sage and Gleason, Kelly E., "Data for: Forest Fires Increase Vulnerability to Midwinter Rain-on-Snow Snowmelt in the Western Oregon Cascades" (2025). [dataset] https://doi.org/10.15760/esm-data.6
.xlsx file: Figure Names, Variables, Variable Descriptions
Description
Included are all data used for analysis and figure development for the manuscript, Forest Fires Increase Vulnerability to Midwinter Rain-on-Snow Snowmelt in the Western Oregon Cascades.