| OCR Text |
Show 3 air. This situation often gives heavy precipitation to east- west oriented mountain ranges such as the Uintahs, but relatively small amounts at locations such as Alta, since the winds are nearly parallel to the mount-tain range. Another important factor which influences precipitation at Alta is the moisture content of the air. A warm moist air mass will produce more precipitation than a dryer one, provided, of course, all other factors remain the same. The above factors must all be considered when forecasting snowfall rates and accumulations at Alta. Temperature and wind are also important in estimating the avalanche hazard. During storm periods, air temperatures at the three sampling locations in the Alta area ( Tanner's Flat, 7710 ft.; Alta Guard Station, 876O ft.; and Germania Pass, 10,300 ft.) were found to be very close to the free air temperatures taken from the Salt Lake City radiosonde data for each respective elevation. See figures, 2, 3, and 4. During fair weather, the effects of radiation are evident, with all stations at Alta having higher temperatures during the day, and lower temperatures during the night than those indicated on the Salt Lake Sounding. The wind information obtained during this study was unreliable due to the instrumentation problems. A TECHNIQUE FOR THE PREDICTION OF PRECIPITATION AT ALTA Precipitation can be considered a function of two parameters, namely ( 1) vertical motion and ( 2) available moisture. The vertical motion is a function of the prevailing synoptic conditions, the release |
