262 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW Jm, 1945
of hail started. After the hailstorm the tam erature fell
mornin (25th).
weather was unsettled and somewhat t reatening dur- in the greater portion of the time, and a trace of rain
fd. Ab out 20 minutes before the hail started to fall, at 4:35p. m., the sky was black and threatening. At
4 p. m. a low whitish nimbus cloud was observed moving rapidly from the northeast, underruning the stratus in the northern sky and the strato-cumulus in the southern sky. By this time, 4 p. m., a very low, dark-brown cloud mass appeared in the southwest, with a tonguelike rojection porntin toward the northeast. From the nim % us cloud a sprin fi - ing rain began at 4:15 rain a t 4:30 p. m. Distant &under was heard in the southwest, first at 3:50 p. m. Suddenly a t 4:35 p. m., hail began to fall in great uantities, in attendance upon a wind gust from the sout 7l west, which started a t 4:32 p. m., and which changed to a moderate northwest wind seven minutes later. ound became as white as snow, so rapid was the fall. F he heavy rain, which began at 439 p. m., quickly washed the hail from the streets and sidewalks, a c e t where it was iled u against the windward side of !l owes and steps. b o s t of the stones were larger than mothballs, but thev ed from the size of peas and moth balls to smdl They varied in sha e as follows: Spheri- L22 nuts. cal, iptical, sharp pointed, and isklike (the latter the size of a dime to a uarter). The hail fell straight down and not at an ange. P storm, in a street car, and none of t e hailstones struck the windows. The hailstorm swe t over the city from west to east, therefore the time o P beginning in the eastern the city was later than in the western. At the eather Bureau office the hail began at about 4:35 p. m. Rain- fall was excessive from 4:39 p. m. to 5:02 p. m., and the amount during this 23-minute period was 0.55 inch. Hail was washed by the heavy rain that followed from the surrounding neighborhood to a de th of 6 inches to a
Streets, and blocked street-car traffic at that oint for
tracks. At the northeast intemection of these streets the weight of the accumulated hail tore a basement door from its fastenings, and the basement filled with water and hail. Accumulations of hail such as this were due chiefly to the choking of sewers b leaves stripped from trees and also by hail. Hundrez of cellars were flooded, owing to the choked sewem. Within the cit hail stripped leaves off of trees and
In country districts some damage resulted to wheat, corn, tomato plants, cabbage, truck crops, and to fruit on trees. Within the city some skyli h t and window panes were
or less general. The conservatories in t e city parks had thousands of panes of lass broken. About 1,200
!ark. FTorists in northeast Baltimore, just to the north- ward of Clifton Park, experienced the heaviest losses, but there were more windows broken in South Baltimore than alsewhere in the city. The greateat accumulation of hail after the storm was
found at Charles and Lanvale Streets, where it was
steadily to a minimum of 43O at 8:15 a. m. of & e following
For 6 ree and onehalf hours precedin the storm the
f
m., and changed to light
Hail fell for four minutes, and the
B
%
The writer assed through the
Jut Of
foot or more at the intersection of C % arles and Lanvalc
20 minutes, or until the hail could be shovele ti off the
bushes and cut B own flowenng plants, rose bushes, etc.
broken, while the breakage o B greenhouse lass was more
anes of lass were shattere c f in the hothousea at Clifton
Some poultry was killed.
B
washed into huge piles. Tho following day three 5-ton motor truck loads, twenty-two %ton motor truck loads, and fifteen 1-horse cart loads were hauled away from this vicinity. It is impossible to estimate accurately the depth of hail that fell on the level, because of the torrential rain that swept it into the sewers within five minutes after the hailstorm started, but probably the depth was about 1 inch.
and about 12 miles wide by 18 miles long, extending rom the extreme northern portions of Howard and Anne Arundel Counties northeastwardly across Baltimore City into southeastern Baltimore County. The northwestern edge of the hailstorm extended from near Ellicott City northeastward to about Fullerton; and the southeastern edge extended from near Rock Point northeastward to Bowleys Quarters, about 1 mile south of Ben ‘es, Md. Losses from the hailstorm are estimate 8 at about $75,000, two-thirds of which was to greenhouse glass. This storm created a sensation in Baltimore, due to the fact that it occurred over the heart of a great city. A similar hailstorm in country districts would have attracted comparatively little attention, but very likely would have caused eater money loss, due to the d e struction of cro s. !& e Forest Park, Walbrook, Roland
the northern suburbs that escaped material damage from the storm. A low-pressure area was directly over the Baltimom district on the afternoon of May 24, 1925. Lowest pressure was 29.38 inches at 4:30 p. m.
P
The area covered by the hailstorm was recta
Park, and Gui P ford sections of Baltimore were among
RIVER AND RAINFALL RECORDS IN AN IMPORTANT LAWSUlT
[Note from the ofedd In charge United States Weather Bureau Ofecs, N~hvilb, T e d .. dated March SO, 19251
The river and rainfall records of the Nashville station were important evidence in a rather unusual law suit”
berland River, which chan ed the line of “ordinary low
The judge %efined “ordinary low-water mark” in the following statement: “Although it is difficult to defme with precision what is the ordin low-water mark, it ie
curacy to mean the usual and common or ordinary st
of the river when its volume of water is not increased y heavy rains or freshets, nor diminished M o w such usual stage or volume b lon -continued droughts to an extreme low-water mark.” d d e r this definition of the court and under all the evidence the judge stated, “the jury must find where that mark is in the river.”
water,” raisin it considera % ly.
a question of law andmay be de Y ned with sufficient ac-
7
MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 263
The plaintif€ claimed that what is known as 001 level
will permit the water to fall (6.5 feet at Nashville), is ordinary low water. The defendant claimed that ordi- nary low-water mark is above the pool level some 6 or 8
feet, and attempted to rove this by the Weather Bureau
Weather Bureau data were introduced as exhibits and from these what seemed to be periods of “ordinary” low water were ointed out. Principal among the data pre- ared were t ?l e average river stages and the average rain-
hl for the last 20 years, b months and seasons; five
years when the 7 a. m. river gage reading was at or above
certain levels; a table and chart exhibiting all the dry
spells (spells of 21 da or longer with 0.25 inch or less of
The verdict of the jury was in favor of the defendant, and was equivalent to saying that it had been shown that the “ordinary low-water mark” on the banks involved in the suit corres onded to 12 to 14 feet on the Nashville river gage. !&is would be 5.5 to 7.5 feet above minimum pool stage, which is 6.5 feet.
of the river, or the lowest stage to which the B xed dam
records. A number o P tables and charts prepared from
tables and charts showing t I e percentage of days in 20
precipitation) at Nas F ville, 1871 to 1924.
M ETEORO LOG Y AND DESERT ROA D-B U I LDI N Q
The hcentl com leted construction of the so-called “Wendover dt-off,R which consisted in part of a road Ill some 40 miles long across Great Salt Lake Desert west of Salt Lake Cit , Utah, involved certain important
conditions, as suggested by the following extract rom Engineering News Record of April 23, 1925.
* * That portion of the cut-off of about 40 miles crossing the alkali mud flats and salt crust is all that called for unusual methods. This mud flat and the salt crust *’ * * are the sediment of a geological lake. The mud flat is about 80 miles long and half as wide. In this flat * * * is the island of salt, sbout 6% miles wide where the road crosses. The salt crust varies from a few inches thick at the edges t o 4 feet thick in the middle. In the summer, or the dry season, the water table over a large area is about at mud-surface level. In winter this area is covered with wster up to a foot or so in depth, varying with the precipitation and as the winter is open or severe. This sheet of water shifts with the wind. A north wind of much duration will pile up the water at the south end of the “lake” and virtually lay dry the road location. With a shift of wind the piled-up water comes flooding back and submerges the highway location sometimes several inches deeper than normal. * * * The clay used in the embankment * * * waa a very fine-grained material
* * *. When this mass became saturated i t held a considerabie amount of moisture * * *. After the salt cute were made
and the underlying clay thrown up in windrows along the line of the embankment i t took considerable time for the surface to dry out sufficiently to permit a caterpillar and grader to work upon it. The hot sun working on this mass for weeks would not dry it out to exceed a depth of a quarter of an inch: It was demonstrated that wind was more effective than the rays of the sun.
P
adjustments of road- g uilding methods to meteorolo ical
THE INCREASING RUNOFF FROM THE AVOCA BASIN (DUE APPARENTLY TO DEFORESTATION)l6
BY E. T. QUAYLE, B. A.
Formerly the stream bed of the Avoca River, a small stream in sou theastern Australia near Melbourne, was characterized by many large water holes, many of which were 20 to 40 yards long, 10 to 15 wide, and 8 to 10 feet deep.
u Pmc. Royal Soe. Victorla. Vol. XXXV, new series.
Tin
For 30 years, or up to the earl nineties, the cha the channel were not particular f y noticeable, but uring the last decade or two they have become very marked. Changes in the vegetable cover of the basin began with
the destruction by stock of the coarse grasses and trees which lined the river bed. With this destruction the cutting of the channel began. This gradually lowered the level of the water in the water holes and now, in most cases, has almost com letely drained them. When the flow is rapid a fairly B eep and uniform channel is eroded, but so far as seen by the author no lateral erosion has occurred. Precise data as to the extent of timber cutting do not seem to be available. The author confines his remarks to what he has personally observed and he notes that “it is common knowledge in that district [the basin of the Avoca] that the clearing of the timber has most strikingly improved the summer flow of the stream by increasmg the activity and duration of the springs.” He recalls the fact that a certain stream which was formerly dry for the greater part of the season is now a
permanent stream; that even in April, 1922, it was dis- charging 5 c. f. er minute.
the 20 years 1890-1910 are compared with similar statis- tics for 1910-1919. This comparison shows that the average minimum dischape of the latter eriod is from
not been any special increase in the rainfall. The official gaugings of the flow of the river over Coon- ooer wier show that the volume as well as the constancy of the stream flow is increasing greatly.-A. J. H.
Statistics of t R e average minimum flow in c. f. s. for
two to ten times greater &an formerly, w % ile there has
METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR JUNE, 1925, FOR CHILE AND ARGENTINA
[Reported by Sellor Julio Bustos Navarrete, El Salto Observatory, Santiago, ChUel
In June, 1925, the weather was rather rainy in the southern art of South America; there were two im ort-
to 28th. From the 1st to the 6th the atmospheric condition was characterized by the presence of a marked anticyclone over the south-central part of the continent, which caused severe cold waves invading the central valley of Chile as far as Santi o and the central pampas of Argentina
over Argentina from the Province of Buenos Aires north- ward. On the 7th an important depression was a proachmg
it began to manifest its influence in the southern region, brin ’ g strong winds and rain in the southern Provinces of &e. Another depression appeared in latitude 40’
south on the loth, and on the next day its influence was shown in the occurrence of rain from Aconc a south-
pressure area had moved to a position off Cab0 Raper and during the next three days it advanced across the region of Magellanes in a come toward the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands and entered the frozen antarctic sea. A rather important depression present in the Province of Rio Negro, Argentina, on the loth was m o m anied by rains extending southward as far as Puerto ddryn. Between the 16th and the 20th an important anti- cyclonic center was formed in the south-central part of
ant perio a s of cyclonic disturbance-7th to 15th an $ 21st
as f a r as Cordo T a. High pressure prevailed repeatedly
from the west in latitude 45’ south; on the fo s owing day
ward to Chiloe. On the 12th the center T o this low