The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-03-06
PRECIPITATION OF
rain AND snow IS
FAR BELOW Mean.
New England Area Is Only Sec
ton Which Has Had Rea-
sonabIe Moisture
EVEN CANADA REMAINS BARE
Snowfall Is vitality important to
Soil Of Farm Lands, Ex-
perts Find
EVEN CANADA REMAINS BARE
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

By FREDERIC J. HASKIN
Washington. d. c., March 6.-That
the record-breaking drought Of 1880
not only will continue through 1881,
but be intensified. is the threat hang
ing over the United States at this
season. Even il normal rains do
occur during the spring and summer,
short crops or eve complete crop
failures In ONE sections are indl-
Gated.
This will be due to the continu-
alton of the drought during the VIM
ter months. The average man, espc-
cially the city dweller, does not think
OF drought in the winter time because
the weather is colder and the absence
Of cooling rains is not felt. Never
theless, this year the drought has
continued right on through the win
ter, precipitation of rain and snow
being fer below normal over prac-
tically the entire country.
Only one section appears to have
escaped the blighting effects Of
drought. That is the northeastern
region. principally New England.
That region did not suffer from lack
of rain last summer and this winter
the snowfall has been normal. It is
curious irony that this region could
. get along without precipitation better
than almost any other for 1t Is the
manufacturing workshop of the ma
ton, its wealth s~pringing from me-
chanical industries. being far In ex-
cess of its agricultural wealth. Yet
the rain and snow have fallen album
dainty on the rockstrewn fields Of
abandoned New England farms, while
the rolling wheat fields Of the west
have remained arid.
Snow is vitality important to the
soil OF farm lands. Normally, snow
begins to fall over a large section OF
the United States in the late autumn.
The earlier SHOWS melt but, as the
season advances, the srO lies and
each succeeding fall makes a deeper
cover. When successive warn spells
occur-notably the February thaw-
melting begins. The snow seeps slow
ly down into the ground. irrigating
the subsoil. Slow meeting prevents
the draining off Of the moisture. 1t
seeps gradually down, softening the
earth to a considerable depth.
Snow Water Necessity
After the last SHOWS. the melting
may proceed so rapidly that the snow
waters run off in flood but enough
normally has sunk into the ground
to prepare it for the spring planting.
Summer rains moisten the surface
soil. Seldom are they Of long enough
duration to irrigate the subsoil. When
snow does not fall in ample volume
and when the subsoil Is not reached
it hardens. Then. no matter how
plenteous the summer rains may be
they are unable to make up the lost
subterranean moisture. II torrential,
such rains are all the more likely to
wash off the topsoil-plants and all
If the soil deeper down is hard.
Another aspect. Supplies of water
for the reservoirs of many cities come
from mountain SHOWS which melt
gradually, through the spring and
even into the summer, draining Oft
into the streams. OF as great i'm
portance are the supplies for the
western irrigation systems. Save in
a very few cases where supplemental
supplies of water are obtained from
artesian wells of unusual capacity,
the great irrigation projects of the
west are fed by snow water from the
hills. A light snow cover in the win
ter inevitably means o short supply
of water for the reservoirs. dykes and
bitches. It is not out of the question
that sorne irrigation projects will
have to be entirely abandoned in the
forthcoming summer.
Examination of the snow maps of
the United States Weather Bureau
for the winter months Of l930-31 is
dismaying. These maps chart the
snow line. In normal years this line
drifts in irregular curves across the
United States, coming down to a
point below the Ohio river in the
east and. in the west. following ap-
proximately the southern boundary
of Nebraska. It dips far south in the
Rocky mountains, mounting north
ward again on the Pacific coast.
This winter the snow line has shown
the most extraordinary departure
from usual performance. In the
northeastern section 1t holds fairly
true to form. New England and New
York and parts of Pennsylvania ap-
pear to have had a normal fall OF
snow but as the snow line proceeds
westward it displays the most aston
ishing vagaries. Beginning at about
the Mississippi river. it starts north
ward and. fcr certain weeks disap-
pears over the Canadian border.