| OCR Text |
Show it is also subjected to influence of continental air masses to the east, is at a much higher altitude, and is located within the elevated área of the Colorado Plateau where local orographic lifting is less pronouncèd. Squaw Valley presents the most irregular curve, a sharp peak at 0* 06 gm/ cc being followed by a strongly skewed curve toward middle densities and then a secondary maximum at 0.18 gm/ cc. Unlike the situation at Berthoud Pass, the peculiarities of the Squaw Valley curve seem more likely to be real. The two peaks probably represent two different types of 6torm which bring different snow characteristics, a possibility presently being explored by further study. Squaw Valley lies sufficiently far south on the West Coast that it is occasionally subjected to warmer disturbances originating farther south in the Pacific Ocean or taking a more southerly path than do those which commonly affect Stevens Pass to the north. Storms of the former origin miss Stevens Pass completely and usually pass south of Alta and Berthoud Pass. The skew toward higher densities may, like that of Stevens Pass and Alta, be associated with relatively frequent deep snowfalls. Girdwood probably possesses the most unusual climate of the five stations Located on Turnagain Arm, a long fjord leading inland from the Gulf of Ala-ska, it may be subjected either to cyclonic disturbances originating in the Gulf or to cold masses from the Alaskan interior. The weather here is notoriously variable. The density distribution curve shows a marked peak at 0.06 gm/ cc, and very little skew toward higher densities. It does exhibit a very long " tail" extending up to occasional snowfalls with densities as high 0.* f0 gm/ cc: m » » » « irnably reflectin^ wet snow conditions near the freez-ing point. Girdwood experiences raany 21f- hour snowfalls of only two or three iusi-*-, cr* on only eight dí> ys of the 221 snowfall days of record did the daily snowfall exceed ten inches. |
