Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1920 — CLIMATE OF SALT LAKE CITY. [ARTICLE]

CLIMATE OF SALT LAKE CITY.

The following extracts are taken from the annual meteorological summary for 1919 for Salt Lake' City, Utah. The pamphlet was prepared by J. Cecil Alter, Meteorologist. Mr. Alter is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Alter, of Union township, and 'his folk and the people of Jasper county are proud of the success that has come to Mr. J. Cecil in this important government work. J ’The four climatic seasons of the temperate zone are rather distinctly? marked at Salt Lake City, each season enduring approximately three months in an ’ overage 'yearly cycle. There have been, springs and autumns ag- short as two months and guimtaß-and Winters nearly as long SB four months within the forty-six years of official records/ though monotonous conditions of either heat or cold, fair .weather or storm, seldom occur. The city’s situation, at an altitude Of 4300 feet above'* the sea, in the northeast corner of a valley fifteen by twenty-five miles in' size ,open to the northwest on Great Salt Lake, but closed on the southwest ‘by the Oquirrii mcrun‘ tains and on the east by A high section of the Wasatch mountains with a sheltering arm to the north of the city, - not only affords a degree of immunity from sevbrd wind, precipitation and temperature conditions attending the passage * * of general atmospheric disturbances, but provides convenient access thru the warm portion of sumfilef Lb spring and autumn conditions within twenty miles- distance ’ln the mountains. The topographical environment exerts a definite and generally favoraWe influence on the winds-, which blow through most of the a. m. hours at light velocities from southeasterly i directions and during most of the p. m. hours, with considerably increased velocities, from northwesterly directions. These latter windaAre to a certain extent tempered in ’ winter and modified in summer 'by their passage over Great Salt Lake. The winds prevail during the hours of great-est-fuel conaumption in Wint4tf; thus a varying amount of-nmbke is collected agaia*; the mountains, over thef dty. However/ this is dissi-pated‘toward-midday by the change, of the wind direction and velocity, as a tule. An increased precipitation occurs over the city and on the adjacent Wasatch slope compared with the State as a whole, because of the easterly trend of the average Storm track* across the Mountains. The water* supply comes from streams ( rising .• in the adjacent mountains, dependent mostly on the increased precipitation, especially snowfall, at the higher altitudes. There have -been fifteen periods ranging from 65 to to 113 days in length with 0.25 inch or less precipitation, since March, 1874. The driest ’’ season usually comes near * the ’ harvest time and is thus of reduced 7 importance, though occasion-1 al extended drought reduces the irrigatimi supply and curtail* security of the moisture Supply,' kn& of the very favorabl« normal temperature conditions for' tRe growing season are indfc catCd in the intense agricultural and horticultural P”™”* the valley, vHuch Iha pSSJ sugar heeto, alfalfa, grain and alvast collection, of minor crops. xiaiimilv

is grown near the-city without irrigation. Winter usually extends through December, 1 January and February, and snowstorms , and settled weather, cold snaps and mild periods alternate as in most characteristic but mild winter seasons at this latitude. However, the weather fluctuations are seldom severe, and there is as a rule no general and prolonged suspension of outdoor activity appropriate to the season. Storms occur about every-six days on the average, each one covering a part of two days. One-fourth of the storms faring the equivalent of two and onehalf inches or more of snow, the others being nisufficient to interrupt pedestrian or commercial traffic seriously. Spring comes rather rapidly, the daily mean temperatures mounting eight or nine degrees a month, and the precipitation totaling about forty per cent of the annual amount. Thus it brings the year’s greatest changes in the appearance of the landscape and in the development of crops and native vegetation, and sees a resumption of those general outdoor activities common to agricultural regions at this latitude. Summer begins with an abrupt change to dry warm weather, usually about the first of June. The number of stormy days, (with 0.01 inch or more of precipitation), falls to about four or five a month, and/ these are usually of comparatively small importance. Only one storm a month amounts to (1.25 inch or more. However, a trace or more falls on from ten to twelve days in each summer month, and as these minor showers are usually attended by, more or less atmospheric disturbance, they are somewhat refreshing and provide an agreeable ventilation. July is the driest month of the year as a rule. Of the eighteen thunderstorms in an average year, ten occur in three summer months. Autumn in Salt Lake City is very much the same royal era of reach cpldrS in nature, of the ripening and harvest changes due to climatic condrtions, that appears generally from New England to the Mississippi river. The gradual but definite change to cooler days and crisper nights, and the flavors of maturing crops and native vegetation, make the autumn especially enjoyable.