Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-09-17
NORTHWESTERN
NEW MEXICO
Condensed Synopsis of Gil
matte Data of Federal
Weather Bureau
COMPILED BY C. E. LINNEY
Temperature and Precipitation
Figures for This Part of the
Territory.

Territory.
The climate data for northwestern
New Mexico, including Santa Fe, gath
cred so carefully by the government
for the past thirty-five and more years,
have been analyzed and compiled by
Section Director Charles E. Linney
and are presented in most graphic
manner in a publication just from
press. The precipitation charts and
the data of the dischage of the Rio
Grande at Rio Grande station, are Of
especial value. The introduction says:
There are few marked tOpograph-
ical features in District No. 5 that
| should be borne in mind in study Of
the climate of the district First, the
Rio Grande valley, narrow gorge
along its eastern border, lying close
to the base of the Sangre de Cristo,
Sandia and Manzano mountains, from
| the crests of which the descent is
rapid to the bed of the river, and the
valley over practically all of the dis
tance is narrow, comparatively low in
altitude, hot, and dry, having, next to
the immediate San Juan valley, the
smallest precipitation of the district
To the east and west of this narrow
valley the precipitation increases rap
idly with altitude, reaching, as a rule,
about 14.5 inches at 1000 feet, and ex-
ceeding 20 inches at 10000 feet, es-
pecially in the northern part of the
state, where heavy SHOWS and severe
cold occur in the higher attitudes. To
the west of the Rio Grande, on the
western slopes of the San Juan range
in eastern Rio Arriba county, the
snowfall exceeds 100 inches annually.
Second, the great mesa or plateau
country in the southern part of the
district. This is broken across its
center by the Gallina, Datil, and Tula-
rosa mountains, forming a part of the
continental divide, but it extends well
beyond these into Arizona, a land of
vast dimensions, of much NAL pals, of
few streams, and these small and in
significant, and of moderate rainfall,
averaging from 13 to Is inches, but ap-
preaching 20 inches toward its south
ern boundary, where it ascends to the
higher reaches of the Black range. Ex-
tending northward from this plateau,
nearly the same precipitation condi-
tions continue along and near to the
continental divide until it nears the
Colorado border, where the average
again rises to II or 18 inches in north
ern Rio Arriba county, and also prob
ably equals this in the higher parts OF
the Wales, or Jemez range, the Cebol-
leta and the Zuni ranges.
Third, the San Juan Valley, with its
very scant precipitation, and its COM
paratively low altitude. The main
streams traversing this region rise in
the high mountains of Colorado, which
receive heavy snowfall and give abund-
ant flow of water, causing this valley
to give unusual promise Of extensive
and successful irrigation. Along the
lower reaches Of the San Juan river in
New Mexico the precipitation falls be-
low inches annually, and is the low
est in the state, but the amount ex-
ceeds s inches in eastern San Juan
county, and Is inches where the
stream crosses the Colorado border in
Dio Arriho oOl1ntv
The continental divide is a meander-
ing line of low mountains, known as
the Cajita Blanca, from the Colorado
border southwest to the Zuni range,
rarely more than 5000 feet in altitude.
From the Zuni and Oso mountains in
northwest Valencia county it passes
southeastward across the plateau 10
the Datil range, thence south across
the southern portion of the plateau to
the Black range in south-central 80
corro county, at no point attaining
very great altitude, or giving rise TO
any streams of Importance, except ID
the extreme southwest border OF the
district, where the San Francisco ana
the ella rivers rise, flowing southwest
ward into Arizona.
The snowfall of the district SHOWS
an increase in amount with altitude;
thus the lower portions Of the RIO
Grande and the San Juan valleys are
practically without snowfall, the
amounts averaging less than 10 inches
annually. 1t increases to ABOUT 81
inches on the mountain slopes at an
altitude of 1000 feet, and exceeds 5O
inches at 5000 to 5000 fet. Over the
northern portion of the continental dl-
vide, however, greater sonwfall occurs,
and it is probable that the fall Is
greater at the same attitudes over the
great plateau, for the annual average
at Fort Wingate is practically Az
inches. As previously noted, the region
OF greatest fall is on the crest and the
higher westren slopes of the San Juan
range in northeastern Rio Arriba
county, where the fall exceeds lo0
inches annually.
There are few days with precipita-
ton in the drier portions OF the dis
trict, probably less than rs year IN
the lower Rio Grande and the lower
San Juan valleys, increasing to about
40 days year in the vicinity OF Albu-
oueroue and the Estancia valley coun-
try, and to so days a yea rover the
Continental divide, the Great Plateau,
the upper San Juan and the upper Rio
Crande vallays. while over the noun