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enough snow to cover the ground at any time. The total snow 

 fall for the winter of 191 5-16, however, was 60.9 inches at Seattle. 

 It was equally heavy at many other places near sea-level through- 

 out the region. The snow fall of this winter was the heaviest 

 of any winter since the establishment of the local ofifice of the 

 U. S. Weather Bureau in Seattle (1890). Between 9 A.M. 

 January 31 and 2 A.M. February 3, there fell a total of 33.4 

 inches of snow. There was some settling of this snow due to 

 melting, so that measurements of the total depth on the level 

 at the close of the snow varied from 26 to 29 inches. 



The nearest approach to the snow of 191 5-16 in amount was 

 in 1892-3 when a total of 58 inches fell. Thirty inches fell in 

 February, but there is no record of the total depth on the ground 

 at any one time. The only other winters during which the records 

 show a total of more than 16 inches are as follows; 1896-7, 31.2 

 inches; 1898-9, 37 inches. 



The snow of January and February, 1916, was very wet and 

 there was but little wind during its fall, so that it accumulated 

 to a considerable depth on all exposed objects offering any con- 

 siderable surface for its lodgement. 



In general there was much greater mechanical injury to needle- 

 leaf evergreens than there was to broad-leaf evergreens. Snow 

 accumulated in large quantities in the tops of young conifers 

 and in many cases this resulted in either uprooting them or in 

 breaking their trunks a few feet from the ground. In the larger 

 individuals among the conifers the greatest injury was by the 

 breaking of branches. The snow did not accumulate in such 

 large masses on the broad leaf trees. The branches bent down 

 with the weight of the snow, and the snow soon slid off from them, 

 the drooping leaves offering practically no resistance to its sliding. 

 The numerous small leaves of the conifers, on the other hand, 

 seemed to offer a firm lodgement for the snow and to offer con- 

 siderable resistance to its sliding. 



Among the conifers, the Douglas fir was a conspicuous suiferer. 

 The injury to this species was the more conspicuous because it is 

 the commonest conifer in the lowlands of the Puget Sound region. 

 Other conifers that suffered severe injury were western hemlock 



