Salt Lake Telegram | 1930-04-04 | Page 10 | Fair Coverage of Snow Found in Shed Survey

Fair Coverage ; Of Snow Found j In Shed Survey ererare Below That of ! Last Year, but Better a Than Figure of . ; 19 2 6 UOOAN.. April - The seasonal ajhow survey over the northern I Hah watersheds wsa made March 4 to A -.ii a i...ii.ir. Thla lum rav. ered an area of about forty mile, along which la represents! I vs of ths Watersheds or Blacksmith Pork. Lutl Bear, logaa and Cub river and all th amall streams draining , bh west face ef the Bear river rang. At Franklin basla. alsvatloa 104 feet, which I lee at the bead ef the X.jan river, there waa aa average aow cover of II I Inches deep, containing con-taining 14. 1 mchee of water. Th area In the vicinity of Tony Orove laka at elevation Hot, showed M l Inches, containing 11. 1 Inches ef water. The two statloos are about fifteen mile spart I Mt. Logan Ilea about twenty-five ajillea enyth of Tony Urove Ink and at a IICI higher elevation. The average enow cover en thla area waa II Inches and contained .4 snow unless a rapid rise In temperature tem-perature occur te cause a rapid runolf. Tha season of 111 was cliarae tertssd by a cold backward spring Tha snow moiled slowly and seeped Into tha ground, later appearing as runolf. Aa a result Uis discharge of the Igan river waa well maintained main-tained through the season, although tha total discharge waa materially reduced. Thla year the snow cover, which la approximately II per cent below last year, has r iiigh density and If a warm, early aprtng follows there will result a high, esrly runoff run-off and a wster shortsge during late summer. If, however, there Is a euld. barbwsrd spring with much rain, the enow cuver will como off fjiche of water. Th depth nd aster content of the snow cover Wt eases rapidly with decrees In elevation. At elevation 43 feet. Pie average enow cover waa 10.4 inches deep and contained M Inches aprtics of wstsr. tILOW 1121 CONTINT )' The water content cf the anow cover thla year Is considerably be- hw that of but not so low as I Ip l- The percentage decreae over vsrle from approilmalsly K per cent at Tony tirove lak to 11 per cent at Kranklln bsslo. It will be noticed thst there Is very lit ties low snow this year aa compared com-pared with 1121. alao that th density dens-ity o( th snow cover 1 much higher. Th density la so high that much f th snow below HUM feet elevation ele-vation he already melted and Beeped Into the ground. Tha rang was quits dry lust full and will sb-aorto sb-aorto a considerable amount cf ths , slowly, resulting In a better die-trlbutlon die-trlbutlon of Ihs season' runoff. RIVIM (TART RISK Normal trmpereturea during the last of March have caused a melt-lug melt-lug of much of the low snow and the Blacksmith Pork and Little Hear rivers hev aiat-lrd to rie. Only a cold siirlng wllh abnormal rain during April will prevent a wster shortage on thoaa streams. The condition on the Logan rlvsr Is better due to larger areas of high walsrshsd, but even on the Logan river the runoff Is cxiiected lo he considerably leas than In and not ae well distributed. In general th water prostiecls for northern t.'tah are only fair. If abnormally heavy rains occur during Apefl and May a shortags will be prevented. If abnormally low ralna occur, together with Itlah lemperaturea during April and Mny. a water shortage of rather serious Datura can be expected.