Snowmelt

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Vegetation gives off heat, resulting in this circular snowmelt pattern.
Vegetation gives off heat, resulting in this circular snowmelt pattern.

In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Predicting snowmelt runoff from a drainage basin may be a part of designing water control projects. Rapid snowmelt can cause flooding. If the snowmelt is then frozen, very dangerous conditions and accidents can occur, introducting the need for salt to melt the ice.

Increased water runoff due to snowmelt was involved in many famous floods. One of them was the great flood of Red River of the North in north United States and Canada. British Columbia is an area prone to snowmelt flooding as well.

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