Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1907 — Snow and Rain. [ARTICLE]

Snow and Rain.

The first man to whom it ever occurred to find out how much rain was represented by a given fall of snow was Alexander Brice of Ivirknewtown, who in March, 1765, made a simple experiment with the contents of a stone jug driven face downward into over six inches of snow. What he learned was that a greater or less degree of cold, or of wind, when the snow falls, and its “lying a longer or shorter time on the ground,” will occasion a difference in the weight and in the quantity of water produced; “but if,” he added, “I may trust to the above trials, which I pndeavored to perform with enre, snow, newly fallen, with a moderate gale of wind, freezing cold, will produce a quantity of water equal to one-tenth part of its bulk.” So that a fall of snow of ten inches represents a rainfall of one inch.—London C-hronicle.