Landscape heterogeneity has a significant influence on the accumulation and melt of snow in Arctic Canada. This is especially true for areas in the vicinity of the arctic treeline where there are dramatic changes in vegetation from northern boreal forest, to shrub tundra to tundra. As these vegetation types have significant effects on the hydrology of these areas, and on the fluxes of energy between the land surface and the atmosphere, and they are prone to rapid changes in vegetation with changing climate, there is a great need to properly account for the fluxes of water and energy in these environments in hydrologic, weather and climate models. This paper will provide data sets demonstrating the variability in end of winter snow cover, snow covered area during melt, and fluxes of sensible and latent heat during melt at a range of scales. In addition, we will present modelling results from a variety of models in order to consider the processes resulting in the observed large variability in turbulent fluxes and a patchy snow cover.