Snowmelt
The computation of snowmelt is the single most important part of a snow accumulation and ablation model.

This is because the snowmelt process largely controls the rate at which water is released from the snow cover to the land phase of the hydrologic cycle.
The rate of water input to the land phase has a dominant effect on the resulting hydrograph.

The accumulation of the snow cover, especially in terms of the water-equivalent, is also important because of its influence on the total runoff volume.
The areal extent of the snow cover controls the area that can contribute to the runoff process.
The remaining snow model components have less effect on the overall simulation results, but are important at certain times on many watersheds.