226 



Popular Science Monthly 



on 



Removing Snow Jrom City Streets 

 Several devices for melting snow 

 the. streets have been introduced or sug- 

 gested, but, except for cleaning side- 

 walks, they have not come into practical 

 use. One plan is to flush the streets with 



hot water. A 



special car, equipped 

 with steam pipes for 

 melting snow, has 

 been successfully 

 used by the Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad in 

 its yards at Phila- 

 delphia, and a simi- 

 lar dev'ice would 

 probably be suita- 

 ble for municipal 

 use. The snow 

 shoveled into 

 shallow re- 

 the upper 



IS 



a 

 ceiver 



m 



car, 



the 

 a 



the 



part of the 

 where it is im- 

 mediately melted 

 by the steam. The 

 lower part of 

 car forms 

 tank in which 

 water accumulates, 

 and from which it is 

 drawn off and 

 emptied into sewers when the tank is full. 



Many and formidable are the snow prob- 

 lems with which the railways have to 

 grapple, and the solutions take the form of 

 snow sheds, fences, ploughs of various 

 types, flangers, gasoline torches for melting 

 snow in switches, etc. Notwithstanding all 

 these expedients heavy snowstorms still 

 result in tieups or the serious demoraliza- 

 tion of schedules. 



Special warnings are issued 

 by the Weather Bureau when- 

 ever a heavy fall of snow is in 

 prospect. These are interest- 

 ing not only to the railways, 

 traction companies and street 

 cleaning authorities but also 

 to stock-raisers on the western 

 plains, where timely notice of 

 an approaching snowstorm 

 makes it possible to get the 

 cattle in from the ranges and 

 save them from starvation. 



The Snow and Ice Bulletin 

 which the Weather Bureau 

 publishes weekly during the 

 winter shows, by means of a 



A snow sampler is a metal tube or bore which is 

 forced down into the snow to secure a sample. 

 When the snow is shallow a bucket is used 



table and chart, the depth of snow on the 

 ground at a great number of places through- 

 out the country, and also contains a review 

 of the snow conditions of the preceding 

 week. This is of value to the railways, 

 shippers, and everybody interested in crops 

 subject to winter- 

 killing, especially 

 winter wheat. 



How Snowfalls Are 

 Measured 



One of the most 

 interesting snow 

 problems — and one 

 that has attracted 

 much attention in 

 recent years — relates 

 to the measurement 

 of snowfall in the 

 mountainous regions 

 of the west from 

 which comes most of 

 the water used for 

 irrigation in the ad- 

 jacent lowlands. 

 The mountains not 

 only receive much 

 more snowfall than 

 the lowlands, but 

 they retain it much 

 longer. Thus a 

 mountain constitutes a snow reservoir, 

 which feeds the water reservoir constructed 

 by the irrigation engineer. 



In connection with the reclamation 

 projects it is important to know how much 

 snow falls, from year to year and also on an 

 average, over the watersheds from which 

 irrigation watfer is supplied. The Weather 

 Bureau has accordingly established, in 



Stock-raisers throughout the west and northwest are severe 

 sufferers from snowstorms. Special warnings are sent to them 



