JANUARY,19 12. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 151

RIVERS AND FLOODS, JANUARY, 1912. By H. C. FRANKENFIELD,Professor of Meteorology. Floods occurred during the month in many of the rivers moderate stages that prevailed in the Alabama River, of the South Atlantic and East Gulf States due to exces- thereby allowing the waters to run out more rapidly sive precipitation that overspend those sections on than would have been the case had the Alabama also ’January S and 9, comin at a time when the rivers were been in flood. The warnings were of great benefit to lum- already comparatively kgh. Had the floods occurred ber interests along the lower Tombigbee, as repration during the growing season of the year, the damage was made for the mol-ement of a large numg er of logs, caused by them would have been much greater, as a and the protection of property in the vicinity of Dem- lar e acreage of agricultural land was inundated. opolis. $he tributaries of the Pedee River System of South High water was general in the rivers of the Mobile ays- Carolina were considerably above the normal stage at the tem at the close of the month. beginning of the month as a result of the December. The Pearl River was in flood during the last week of rains, and when the heavy precipitation of January S-9 December, 191 1, and continued rains during the early contributed to them, it wns evident that flood stages part of January, 1912, kept the river above flood stage would be reached in the Black River and Lynch Creek at Pearl River, La., until after . Flood stage within a few clays. Vamings were issued accordingly was slightly exceeded at Jackson, hfibs., for the first 10 and were full verified, the crest at Effinghani, S. C., on days of January, but no daiiinge was reported. Wam- Lynch Creek zeing 1 foot above the flood stage on January ings of the ap roaching high water were issued in aniple 11, and the crest at Kingstree, S. C., on the Black River time, and witP i the exception of a loss of $5,000 at a within 0.2 foot of the flood stage on Januar 12-13. The lumber company’s mill in the swamps of Honey Island, subsec uent fall in Lynch Creek was very s ow, the stage and about $500 worth of stuck belonging to other parties, at EEA igham, S. C., on January 1s being onlyY 1 foot be- who did not heed the witrniiigs, the damage was com ara- low flood stage. A wnrning was issuecl on January ll ti\-ely small, considering the extended period of the iYood. for flood stages in the lower Pedee River about the 16th, Continued and excessive rains in the upper Tazoo but the rise was checked by an unusually severe freeze delta caused that portion of the Tazoo River to rise to a in that locality, and the crest was not as high as anti- few feet above the flood stage at Swan Lake, Miss., on cipated, being 1.7 feet below the flood stage on Januaiy -6, and los.-.c>sand damage to the extent of 14-16. High water also occurred in the Wateree River about 85,500 were sustained. Property to the value of and warnings of the coning of the same were issued on about $2,UOO was saved through the use of the Weather . Flood stages were not reached, but as cer- Bureau warnings. The flood was confined to the upper tain interests are affected when the river is several feet portion of the river. below that stage, the warnings were justified. No Heavy rains during the last, week of December, 1911, darnage of consequence resulted from the high waters, caused the lower Tennessee River to go above the flood and the value of property saved through the use of the stage and remain in flood during the first few days of warnings along the Pedee System probably amounted to January, 1912. The following were the crest stages about $1,000. reached at various oints: Florence, Ala., 18.4 feet, on A flood was experienced in the Flint River and high December 31, 1911; kiverton, Ala., 35.0 feet, on January water in the lower reaches of the Chattahoochee River, 1, 1912; Savannah, Tenn., 37.3 feet, on , 1912; tributaries of the Apalachicola. The excessive rainfall Johnsonvile, Tenn., 31.0 feet, on , 1912. of January 8-9 was the cause of the Flint River, already Warnings mere issued in time to be of material benefit above normal stage, rising rnpiclly to a few feet nhove to all interests concerned, and very little damage was the flood stage, 34.4 feet being recorded at Albany, Ga., reported, the saving as a result of giving heed to the and 26.0 feet at Bainbridge, Ga. Warnings of the sud- warnings being greatly in excess of the losses occasioned den rise were issued on Januar.y 9, and no damage of by the flood. conse uence resulted from the flood exce t at Albany, Floods in the Wabnsh River and its tributaries were Ga., wB ere a local power company suffereB to the extent due to ice gorges. The prolonged period of cold weather of about $1,000. the fist part of the month had resulted in the accumula- The Ocmulgee River of Georgia was also in flood, tion of a large amount of ice in the rivers, and the mod- especially the lower reaches, where stages in excess of erate rains about the 1Sth of the month over that section the flood stage occurred as a result of conditions similar caused a rise and a general breaking up of the ice. Per- to those which caused the flood in the Flint River. The haps the worst gorge in the river occurred at Mount losses were inconsequential. Carmel, Ill., where the ice held for several days, forming High water prevalled in the Tombigbee River during a dam that caused the river to rise to abouf 2 feet above the latter part of December, 1911, and the first week of the flood sta e on . The gorge broke durin January, 1912. Timely warnings were issued, and al- the night of anuary 26-27, and the river fell slowly unti7 though flood stages were exceeded at several places, the end of theB month, although the ice was still holding the excesa at Demopolis, Ala., bein 13.5 feet on January above Mount Carmel at that time. Numerous other 5-6, the damage waa comparativey7 small. The inten- uor es formed in the Wabash, a notable one at Attica sity of the flood waa dimizllshed to a great extent by the fnd!? where the stage was forced to 6 feet above the flood

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/29/21 10:21 PM UTC 152 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. JANUART,1912 stage on . This gorge did not break, the ice MOUNTAIN SNOWFALL. simply settling as the water slowly escaped. Warnings were issued as early as January 21 for precautions to be South Dakota.-Re orts indicate a sufficient supply of taken at Mount Carmel, Ill., arid, considering the high water under fnvorabP e temperature conditions. stages that were reaclied at many pniiits along the river, ,~~ontnna.-C'hinook conditions with frozen ground tlie damages was comparatively light. caused a large runoff in the foothills and valleys, but at A freshet occurred in the Wdlamette River of OrcgCJll high altitudes there was but little runoff, daylight thawing about the middle of the month. The crest stage at Port- serving to solidify the snow. As a whole the snow is in land, Oreg., being 17.3 feet, 2.3 feet above the flood stage excellent condition, with prospects of a normal water on . As the C'olumbia River mas at a low supply, except in a few basins. stage the water ran out quickly, and no losses occu;rccl. lT-!/oriiir,g.-Tlie snow, its tt rule, is well pacliecl, but The Sacramento River of California wts lower during rather deficient in amount. the month of January than it has bcen at this season for Colorado.-The snowfall was deficient, but well packed, a number of years, and river men are experiencing grave and inucli of it is frozen. concern over the pros ects of the river running dry next New IVcxico, ltah, adNevuda.-Tlie month was dry, summer on account oP scarcity of snow in the mountains. and without more snows in good quantity during t3e remainder of the winter, tlie supply of water will be lm. ICE. Idaho.-The snowfall was soniewhat in excess of the usunl nmount, although much of it disappeared during Owing to tlie persistent low teniperutures during the the month, and present conditions indicate a fair water month the amount of ice in the rivers steadily increased. sup dy, escept in IL few localitieq, where n deficiency is The C'onnecticut River at IImtford, Conii., and the 1ilr el v . Hudson at Albany, N. Y .. v ere covered with 13 inches of ~i'ctshirtgton .-I11 tlie C'ttscttdes the amount of snow wns ice at the end of the niontli, w1iere:ts there was none at generally less tlim tlie nvernge, ~-1dein the northeastern the end of December. Siniilitr conditions prevailed in sections it was greater. the Susquehanna and Delnware Rivers. At Washington, Oregon .-While ths amount of wcumulttted snow is D. C., tlie ice in tlie Potoiiiac w\'us 10 inches in thickness, rather less thnn usual, niucli of it has become solidified while at the end of the Preceding month there was none. by rain, and there are prospects of a normal water supply. The Mississi pi River was frozen over alinoqt as far as the C't77ifornLa.-The snow supply was less than for any mouth of t)I-! e River, altliougli o ,en at St. Louis, other month of January of which there is record, and and at all points above the moutli of t1 le Missouri River prospects of a good water su,ply are very unfavorable. the tliiclmess of the ice ranged from 10 to 20 inches, This is in marked contrast to t\ le nionth of January, 1911, while at the end of December there was none below which was one of unusunlly heavy precipita,tion over the the mouth of the Wisconqin Riyer. There were numer- entire State. ous gorges formed in the Ohio River, and several broke Hydrographs for t,j-pical points on several principal on the 19th and 30th, doing much damage. Tlie Missouri rivers are shown on chart I. Tlie stations selected for River was frozen throughout itq entire leiwth, with a charting are Keokuk, St. Louis, hleniphis, Vicksburg, maximum thickness of 34 inches at Bismnrc%, N. Dalr., and , on the Mississippi; and an increase of 15.5 inches during the month. At Iianws Cairo, on the Ohio ; Nashville, on the C'umberlnncl; John- C'ity, Mo., the ice was 18 inches in thickness at the end of qonville, on the Tennessee ; Iiansas C'ity, on the Missouri ; the month, all new ice. Little Rock, on the Arkansas; and Shreveport, on the Red.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/29/21 10:21 PM UTC