A method is proposed to estimate canopy snow unloading timescales from conventional daily observations of precipitation and above canopy albedo. If the unloading process is assumed to be purely exponential in time, then the Laplace convolution theorem can be exploited to obtain the timescale without the necessity of solving an inverse transform. The method is illustrated with a simple analytic example, and then used to evaluate the unloading timescales of mature stands of Jack Pine and Black Spruce in the Canadian boreal forest. Simulations of these stands with a land surface model for a single winter season yielded better results with the new observed estimates of about 2 days, compared with the model's default value of 10 days.