The paper describes a study to use remotely sensed satellite data, together with conventional ground-based meteorological and hydrological data for an operational discharge forecast in an alpine catchment area. The runoff forecast is part of a project for operational discharge evaluations in a hydroelectric scheme. The Snowmelt Runoff Modell (SRM) is used to generate weekly and seasonal forecasts. Snowmelt runoff simulations have been carried out in a large basin and in several subbasins for different years. To demonstrate a runoff forecast procedure, we focussed our interest on the snowmelt runoff period, from April to September 1985 in two subbasins of the alpine catchment area of Rhine-Felsberg, GraubÃŒnden, Switzerland. All snow cover maps are based on multisensor satellite recordings such as Landsat-MSS and NOAA/AVHRR. The objective of the study is to prove that a promotion from snowmelt runoff simulation to operational snowmelt runoff forecast is achievable. High quality forecast values are a prerequisite for a more efficient management of multistage hydropower generation. The economic benefits of this procedure are discussed in this paper.