Peak Timing of Runoff (1985 to 2020) Summarized within Global Watershed Basins
Data associated with manuscript: Historical Trends in Snowmelt Used for Irrigation by Kinnebrew et al., 2025, Environmental Research: Food Systems (https://doi.org/10.1088/2976-601X/adacec).
These data represent the temporal mass center of runoff, or peak runoff timing, for each year (1985 to 2020) and within each watershed basin (HydroBASINS level 3; https://www.hydrosheds.org/products/hydrobasins). The data were summarized from snowmelt, rainfall and total runoff data from TerraClimate (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vx0k6dk2h). Please see the manuscript methods for additional information.
Column Names and Descriptions:
1. watershedNum: the HUC12 identifier number from HydroBASINS level 3
2. year: data year, from 1985 to 2020
3. CT_Snow: the month in which the mass center of snowmelt runoff occurred. Values correspond to month and day (see note below)
4. CT_Rain: the month in which the mass center of rainfall runoff occurred. Values correspond to month and day (see note below)
5. CT_Total: the month in which the mass center of total (snowmelt and rainfall) runoff occurred. Values correspond to month and day (see note below)
Converting values to month and day: The whole number corresponds to the month (1: January, 2: February, 3: March, etc.). The fraction can be converted to the day of the month by multiplying it by the number of days in the month. A value of 1.3 would correspond to January 9, or a value of 9.7 would correspond to September 21.