456 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. MARCH, 1913 on the 31st. This wns 3O hi her t$an the highest tempera- The average stage of the American River e ualed that ture recorded during Marc%, 1912. The lowest temper- of the corresponding month of 1912, when t is stream nture was -7' at Tamarack, which occurred on the 1st. was the lowest on record for the month. B This wns 10' higher than the lowest during March, 1912, In the Feather-Yuba watershed all previous low-water at tlhe same place. The highest monthly mean was 66.2' records for March were broken by from 0.5 of a foot to at Mnmm3th, and the lowest was 21' nt Tamarack. nearly 1 foot. Light scattered showers occurred in the upper reaches PRECIPITATION. of the Sacramento River during the first decade of the The precipitntion was much below normal. The fol- month, and rainq, more or less general, fell througliout lowing tnble gives the avernge precipitation and depnrture the xlraiunge basin of the Sacramento Valley from about from normal for each March from IS97 to 1913, inclusive: the 17th to 24th, inclusive. The rain was nioderately heavy north of Red Bluff, causing rises ranging from 2.5 at Vernon to as much RS 4 feet at Red Bluff between the 23d and 25th. Below the mouth of the Feather River the swell amounted to little mare than 1 foot. Inches. Inclres. Inches. 1597...... 3.9s ...... 9.19 +4.45 Lower San Jonquin wutemhed-The stages of the lS9S...... 0.66 ...... 10.67 +5.93 Mokelumne and the Up er Cosulllnes Rivers equaled the ~~1899...... 6.10 ...... 1.49 -3.25 1900 ...... 2.3s ...... 3.56 -1.18 low-water stages that og tained during March, 1912. In 1901 ...... 1.01 ...... i 2.43 -2.31 1902 ...... 3.39 ...... 6.02 +1.2Y all other streanis in this watershed the average stages 1903 ...... 5.60 ...... 5.17 +O.J3 were the lowest recorded during the month of March. 1904 ...... s. 52 ...... 2.16 -2.58 1905...... 5.42 In the Lower San Jonquin itself, north of the Stanislaus, the river averaged nearly 10 feet below the normal for The greatest monthly precipitat,ion was 9.45 inches at the past 15 years and over 1 foot below the lowest stages Pu'ellie. At nine statmiomno precipitat,ion was rec,orded previously recorded during the month. during the month. The greatest %-hour rainfall was Rains, mostly light, were general from the 1Sth to 3.35 inc.hes at Greenville on t,he 22~1. about the 25th, mclusive, causing slight rises in all streams, Snou!faa.--Marc,h was a moiit,h of less than averege which were still in progress at the close of the month. snowfnll. There were no heavy fnlls, escept on t,he 22cl. The effects of snow water on run-off were not apparent On t,he ot,her hand, there were no wnrm spe,lls, no rapid at any time diiring the month. melting, and no excessive evaporation. During the third week t,he dept,h and area of t8hesnow cover were NOTES ON THE STREAMS OF !FEE UPPER SAN JOAQUIN materially increased, but, nevertheless, not enou h snow WATERSHED. fell to insure a bountiful supply of water during tfl e com- By W. E. BONNETT,Local Forecaster. ing summer. The St.nte could we,ll stand t8woor three heavy snowfalls in the mount.ains. The snow is well Deficient preci itation and cool weather, which pre- acked, at a low temperatmure,and t,he wat'er cont>eiit,high. vented any cons1.J erable melting of mountain snows, have !he loss by evaporat8ioii and melt,ing was less t'han in a kept tlie streams of the 'CTpper Ssn Joa uin watershed at normal March. There has been no wade of wnter. very low stages. Average gage heigB ts are slight1 higher than those of February at all oints but they fai SNOW JN THE MOUNTAINS. far short of tlie March average for tg e last seven years The following table shows the depth oi snow on the wid were everywhere much lower than the lowest previ- ground at Sumnlit on given dat,es in March during the ously recorded March stages, namely, those of 1908. period 1907 to 1913: At Merced Falls the average stage was 0.7 foot, the seven-year average for March IS 1.4 feet, and the monthly 1907 ...... 104 1911 ...... 1903 ...... 116 1912 ...... 26 range was from 0.4 to 1.1 feet. At Friant the average was 1909 ...... 201 1913 ...... 52 -0.4, the seven-year average is 1.3 feet, and the monthly 1910 ...... 65 range -0.6 to 0.1 foot. There was no change at Fire- SUNSHINE. baugh, the stage remaining at -0.9 foot thou hout the month as compared with a seven-year mean oP 3.5 feet. The following gives the hours of sunsliine and per- At Piedra, on the Kings River, the mean stage was 4.9 centa.ges of the possible: feet, the lowest for many years, and the monthly ran e was from 4.6 to 6 feet. The highest stages for tE e Percent- Percent- month at all points occurred on the last day following Stations. I Hours. 1 ageof )I Stations. Hours. ageof possible. 1' poasible. some warm days. i7 hile the stages for March this year were lower than ...... 308 K3 Fresno...... 300 ...... those of the same month in 1912, they are only slightly Los Angeles...... 303 70 lower, but the situation with reference to the demand for bIoimt Tamalpais.. .. 270 ...... 269 73 Red Bluff...... 253 ..... 251 1 67 water is vastly different than it was at this time last year. Somewhat more than 3 inches of rain fell over this portion NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF THE SACRAMENTO AND of the valle in March, 1912, and it was followed by LOWER SAN JOAQUIN WATERSHEDS DURING THE alinost 2 incl es in April, so that the ground was in excel- MONTH OF MARCH, 1913. lent condition from the rains. There was consequently By N. R. TAILOR,Local Forecsster. very little demand for irrigation water until the normal Sacrum e nt o u~rtershed.-From the inou th of the Pitt summer rise in the streams be an in May. River to tidewater the Sacramento River wits lower than In the month just closed t?l e average rainfall in this for any previous March of which there is nn authentic vicinity was less than one-fourth of an mch, and there is record. At Red Bluff, Colusa, Knights Landing, and it pressing demand for several times the water for irriga- Sacramento City the average stages for tlie month were tion that is now available. A flow sufficient to fill all 5.1, 8.0, 7.0, and 9.6 feet, respectively, below the syer- ditches probably will not be available much before May ages which have been maintamed at these places durmg 1, unless April is unusually wwm, and irrigators are all previous years of record. greatly disturbed by the shortage. Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/27/21 04:58 PM UTC