Las Vegas optic., 1912-04-11
MARCH WAS VERY
DISAGREEABLE
MONTH
WEATHER WAS COLD, CLOUDY
AND STORMY; LINNEY GIVES
PARTICULARS

SANTA re, N. M, April ll.-TnS
month of March, 1912, was cold.
cloudy and stormy with large excess
of precipitation. especially over the
northern mountain ranges, the upper
Rio Grande valley and the south
west A general but small deficiency
in precipitation occurred east of
line from northern Union county to
Dona Ana. Unusually heavy snowfall
occurred over the western slopes of
the Sangre de Cristo range in Taos
county, and the western slopes of the
San Juan range in eastern Rio Arri-
ha, while heavy rains occurred over
the southern slopes Of the Black
range in northern Grant county. and
over the western slope of the San
Francisco and Mogollon ranges in
southwest Socorro.
A large deficiency in temperature
occurred over the eastern counties,
exceeding eight degrees a day in
southern Union and northern Quay
counties and averaging from four to
seven degrees a day over most Of
the state east of the one hundred end
fifth meridian. Westward, the defi-
cheney was much less, reaching prac-
tically normal temperature in the
central Rio Grande valley, although
the average temperature for the state
was considerably below the normal
for the south. Brief periods of warm
weather occurred from the 4th to 9th,
the 18th tof2Oth, the 25th to 27th, and
10Th to S1st; the 18th was generally
the warmest day. Cool weather pre-
vailed at the beginning of the month
and brief cool periods also occurred
from the 10th to 18th, and 21st to
oath, the latter proving especially
damaging in the lower Pecos valley,
where previous warm weather had
started the early fruit to blooming
The 18th was generally the coolest
day of the month.
The precipitation for the mon.h
was the highest average for March
that has occurred, with the exception
of 1905. The stormy character of the
month is indicated by the precipi-
tation tables which show pracipita.
tion on practically every day at some
point within the state, although it was
general on the 4th, 9th, 10th, 22d.
23d and 9th. The 9th and 10th were
days of heavy rainfall in the south
west the west and the northwest
counties, causing rapid rise in the
upper Rio Grande and brief floods in
the Mimbres, the San Francisco and
the Gila. The coolness of the month
quite generally. turned the rain to
snow over the northern half of the
state, and the northern ranges re-
ceived an unusual fall, reaching a
maximum of IA inches at Anchor
Mine, Taos county, while SS inches
occurred in Red River canyon, 5S in
ches at Chama, so inches at Hodges,
46 inches at Bateman's and 4S inches
at Aspen Grove. and many addition
al stations exceeded 20 inches.
The sunshine of the month was
greatly deficient. At Santa Fe and
Roswell there was but 5S per cent of
the total possible amount. For the
state. as a whole, there were but IL
clear days. II partly cloudy and eight
cloudy, almost twice the usual cloudi-
ness. The humidity, however, aver
age low, especially in southern couns
ties; at the Agricultural College the
average was "a per cent, at Roswell
So per cent, at Fort Stanton A per
cent and at Santa Fe so per cent.
The winds were rather high, the 4th,
7th, 18th 13, 18th and goth were es-
pecially blustery. The prevailing d.
rection of the wind was from the
southwest.