Rain-on-snow induced flood events in Southern Germany

Using the long-term observed data at 10 meteorological stations and 17 hydrological gauging stations in a forest region in Germany, the objectives in the present paper were to examine the space-time variability of precipitation and snow (snow depth and snow water equivalent), to evaluate the importance of rainfall for snow melt process, to explore the simultaneous occurrence of snowmelt and rain on snow, to investigate the characteristics of discharges including peak discharges, to calculate runoff from snowmelt and rainfall, and to analyze runoff depths and runoff coefficients. The dependence of these variables on station elevation was studied. The results of the studied forest region were compared with those of other stations in Germany. The major climatic features were a precipitation maximum in summer, and a discharge maximum in winter. For topographical elevations larger than about 400 m above sea level, rain-on-snow events play a much more important role in runoff formation than pure rainfall events.