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A cellular automata model is proposed for simulating the evolution of snow packs in areas in which wind transport of snow and the interactions with terrain and short alpine vegetation are dominant. The model is designed to work at small spatial scales (1 m) and over weekly time steps. The processes simulated include a layered snow pack formed by accumulating weekly precipitation, a physically based densification scheme that accounts for the compaction of the snow layers, and the interaction between the blowing snow with small-scale topographic features and vegetation. Other features include the possibility of time-variable transport trajectories, space-and time-variable precipitation, and time-variable initial density. The removal and deposition of particles is determined according to a predefined set of probabilities dependent upon the relative location of the grid cells to aerodynamic obstacles and the vertical …