The Press., 1895-03-07
RAINFALL.

The average annual rainfall of the United States, not including Alaska, Is about 1, 400 cubic miles, or if equally dis tributed over the entire surface, would make body of water 36 4inches in depth.
 This water, which must be lifted into the atmosphere by the forces of nature befere it can come down as rain, weighs to more than double the amount of water contained in Lake Ontario, or one and one-eighth of that in Lake Michigan, and four years of rainfall would about equal all the water in the five great lakes.
 Rainfall comes from clouds at an aver age elevation of about 2,64O feet, and to raise the moisture for one years rainfall requires power equal to 5000 millions of horses working ten hours day, lifting 100, 900 tons of water 8 mile high every second.
 Distributing this rainfall by seasons it is found that for all the territory of the United States, except Alaska, the aver age for spring is 92 inches, for summer 1O3, autumn 8.3 and winter S.6.
 This fall of water is disposed of by flowing through the rivers, by passing in- to the earth, by evaporation, and by be- ing consumed by plants and animals. The run-off is estimated at 40 to 50 per cent. in the interior states east of the 95th meridian and much less west of that. The run-off is largest about the great lakes, diminishing slowly toward the southeast and rapidly toward the southwest.
 As rule the per cent. of evaporation is greatest where the run-off is least. West of tho Rocky mountain divide the run-off is small and the evaporation large.
 For the whole country the rainfall is greatest in June and least in October, greatest in the summer season and least in the autumn.
 The northeast has the most evenly dis tributed rainfall. At New York City 45.2 inches is the annual average, and the least monthly average is about 3.5 inches in December and January, and the great est average about 4.5 inches in July and August.
 Toward the south and west the climate gradually progresses toward rainy and dry seasons till the extremes of this fea- ture are reached on the middle Pacific and on the northwest coast of South America.
 Key West and San Francisco are the. places of greatest extremes. and their sx tFsfnaa mo opposlt paall oal Fey v est has an annual average of 40. 1 inches with inches in September and only 1.8. in December and inches in January.
 San Francisco takes the opposite of this, and with an annual rainfall of 23.6 inches has about inches in January and 5 inches in December, while June, July, August and September are almost wholly without rain.
 The heaviest rainfalls recorded in one day are at Pensacola, Florida, 10 inches j; New London, Connecticut, 11.8 inches. Along & line drawn through Cape Cod, Mass, Charleston, s. O., the southern parts of Georgia and. Alabam, central Mississippi to 8 point little west of Houston, Texas, ? inches of rain fre- quently falls in one day.
 At Oswego, N. Y., and in western Ore gon thirty or more days of rainfall have occurred in succession, and these points are noted for small rains throughout the year. In the Missouri and Mississippi valleys the number of consecutive days of rainfall sometimes reaches between ten and twenty.
 At Yuma, Arizona, periods of 167 days without rain occur. At Sacramento, Cal ifornia, 16O days pass without rain; at San Francisco 142 days, Los Angeles 120 days, San Diego 136, Fort Wingate, north western New Mexico, 124.