meltoff

English

Etymology

melt + off

Noun

meltoff (countable and uncountable, plural meltoffs)

1. The melting of snowpack at the end of winter.
   • 2012, Larry L. Tieszen, Vegetation and Production Ecology of an Alaskan Arctic Tundra, →ISBN:

     Thus mosses are in a position to photosynthesize at significant rates immediately after meltoff since their relative photosynthetic competence is high and since a substantial amount of evergreen tissue is present.

   • 2013, H.H. Genoways, Current Mammalogy - Volume 1, →ISBN, page 169:

     In years of late meltoff, ground squirrels emerge and burrow up through the snow with little difficulty.

2. The water produced by the melting of the snowpack.
   • 2000, David Gilligan, The Secret Sierra: The Alpine World Above the Trees:

     The snowpack deepens as long as accumulation exceeds meltoff , usually until mid-March.

   • 2001, Dana Stabenow, The Singing of the Dead, →ISBN, page 99:

     It was low and slow at this time of year, all the fish up the creek, all the meltoff out in the Gulf, but it was still beautiful.