Gunnison news-champion., 1924-02-01
Do We HAVE MORE RAIN
FALL WEST Of RANGE
THAN IN FORMER DAYS?

Is the Clma,e Of the United State,
charging. Elias Z Dunn, former
Weather Observer for New York,
claims il is, and says this change has
been slowly but surely t4sIug place
since about ls5 Old settlers in van
Gus part OF the country frequently
make the -ame claim, especially IN the
northern and eastern states. The.
have m mind the ven deep SHOWS Of
former generation, SHOWS so deep
that horses pulled sleighs right over
the tops Of fences. with drifts ter
feet deep or NOR.
Weather bureau officials in Wash
Ington, d. c. have disagreed. The
say the climate merely moves IN cycle,
very warm for = while. then very hot
They check up old records and say
that II you take the weather average
over periods Of ten years each, the
average temperature Of these period
CT cycles, has never warned more thar
= few degrees since the first Official
weather observation were made.
Dunn, nevertheless, is lining I'd with
the old settlers lie IS positive that
the climate Is changing and he blame
the big irrigation projects in the
West. About 10000, 900 acres are
now under irrigation. This means q
tremendous amount Of moisture darn
med up in what would otherwise BE-
dry country Water in a dry coun-
thy naturally evaporates quickly. This
cy aporation changes the moisture OF
the air. affecting the barometnc
condition. generates storms which ar.
not only local. but go travelling. So
Dunn reasons. We have cloudoursts
floods and general freaks Of weather
Dawmed-up water eyaporates fat
IN q iy climate. In the Ohio river
valley evaporation is forty inches n
year. Il is over one hundred inches
a year in New Mexico, Arizona and
California.
This is 4 problem which has caused
much spcculation in Colorado. and
there is a great variety of opinion.
The forestry people deny that irriga-
ton has any effect on increasing pre-
althn some Of them allegr
that growing more trees would help
whereas. trees have about as much
influence on rainfall as the hairs on
a dogs back. The trouble with arRu-
ing any increase of rainfall due 10
Of irrigation water. even
after We prove that evaporation was
very considerable, is that east Of the
Rocky Mountains the winds that car
~ moi sture are constantly descending
into lower, hotter valleys, and the
tendency is to continually suck up
more and more water like a thirsty
sponge. That is what makes the
plains arid from the base OF the Rocky
Mountains eastward, and only a cat
aclysmic change in the weather condi-
tons can jar the moisture loose In
frequent rains. The winter SHOWS are
certainly not due to evaporation.
might increase because of
such additional moisture.
Howevcr-and here is an interest
ing point for speculation-wcst of the
range in the Gunnison country, tins
condition is exactly reversed. The
winds that blow across II
rigated valleys of Utah, and the coun-
ties of Mesa, Delta and Montrose, are
rising into q higher, colder region of
the Gunnison country, where the ten.
dency is to contract the air and
suueezZe out moisture. II there Is
increased evaporation sufficient to
affect rainfall, this condition would
naturally be most noticeable in July
and August, and that is just when we
do have all sorts of rain up here. vel
come to the dry farmers and very I'M
welcome to the haying crews.
Only precipitation records extending
from the earliest history of the valley,
fifty years ago, would prove whether
this summer rainfall is increasing, and
unfortunately we have no such re
cords. Besides, it takes rs to 100
wears to establish a reliable cycle of
climate.
This is problem our children may
have definite information upon.