Climate of the Lake Mead Recreation Area

ly found in less arid parts of the desert. To many photographers, these high cloud bases, combined with the exceptional transparency of the air, make summer picture taking in the Area particularly attractive.

Our advice for springtime at the Lake Mead Area is to plan shore activities for best enjoyment. If your heart is set on boat fishing, try to plan a fouror six-day trip, so that, if some of the days are windy, it will not bring you too much disappointment. Storms move fast in spring and there are often delightful days of calm between blows.

The prevailing direction for winds over twelve miles per hour is from the southwest during the spring months.

There is often much discussion about the time at which spring turns into summer in the desert Southwest. To some, summer begins as soon as the warm temperatures begin. To others, summer begins with the start of the beautiful cumulus type clouds and the thunderstorm season.

In the Lake Mead Recreational Area temperatures continue to rise through June. In many years every day of that month sees a maximum of one hundred degrees or better. The air is even drier in June with relative humidity values at their lowest for the year, and the nights are relatively comfortable. The difference between day and night temperatures in June is the greatest for any month of the year, with early morning minimums thirty to thirty-five degrees below the daytime maximum. As already mentioned, June is a persistently windy month, similar to the three months preceding it in that respect.

July and August are common vacation months in most areas and the Lake Mead Area has its attractions during these months also. Summer on the desert, to many, is associated with billowy, photogenic clouds and thunMidday temperatures are hot in July and August. Daytime maximum temperatures during this period average from one hundred to one hundred ten degrees. Early morning minimum temperatures range from seventy-five to eighty-five degrees on the average. On the usual summer day, the temperature reaches ninety degrees by about nine o'clock in the morning. Early morning, of course, is the best time for physical exertion. With summer dawn breaking early at that latitude, there are a good four hours of daylight for the hardy early riser to enjoy before the heat of the day begins.

The days are somewhat more humid than in spring, as moist air is being transported overland into the desert from the Gulf of Mexico during midsummer. Without this moist air, though, there would be no cumulus clouds or thunderstorms.

derstorm activity, which reaches its maximum in late afternoon, and are of short duration, rarely over an hour at a time.

September is a delightful month in the Lake Mead Recreational Area. Temperatures average from eight to ten degrees cooler than during midsummer. In most years the thunderstorm season has passed, the air is dry again, transparent, and the nights, cool. During periods of exceptional visibility the bold outlines of stark desert mountains stand out in a contrast of light and shadow in a manner seldom experienced in more conventional landscape.

From a climate standpoint, September is the best of the hot weather months for lake fishing. Wind movement averages its lowest of any month since January. During daylight hours winds over twelve miles per hour blow only twenty-seven percent of the time, or, on a daily basis, on about one day in four.

October is the month of change in the Lake Mead Recreational Area. It is also a favored month for outings in the area. The back of the summer heat is broken during the month and the transition to winter temperatures occurs. An average temperature for October is meaningless due to the rapid changes. However, from a statistical standpoint, daytime maximums average from eighty to ninety degrees with early morning temperatures about thirty degrees lower. There is not much change in the moisture content of the air during the three fall months. October remains dry with low relative humidity. Rainfall is infrequent and averages two days per month, same as during the summer season. However, the general air circulation has changed and the few storms during the month come from a westerly direction similar to those described as typical of winter time conditions.

Wind movement during October averages the lowest of any month of the year. Wind speeds over twelve miles per hour during daylight hours occur only twelve percent of the time, or on about one day in eight. Some years have passed with no winds over eighteen miles per hour during October. For those who do not have to take their vacations or trips during summer months, October is an excellent month for small boat operation in the Lake Mead Area from the standpoint of weather.

With the close of October we have completed a year's weather cycle in the Lake Mead Recreational Area and are ready for another season of outing and recreation. During whatever season you go, we wish you good fishing and “purring” weather.

COPY CRICKETS

In warm semi-dark As fireflies spark. Melodists pipe from a thicket A song popular Young crickets are Chirping about Davy Cricket.

FLIGHT AT DUSK PHOENIX TO LOS ANGELES

At twelve thousand feet straight into the west The airliner chased the receding glow Of shading colors in a flat rainbow; Deepest red at the dark earth's breast Through orange, yellow, green and the blues Up to the velvet of Heaven's vault, Where, safe from any human assault, Diamonds glittered by ones and twos Then all blinked down Past our firefly in flight Through the gathering night Upon each sequined town.

PRAYER OF THE INDIAN SONG-MAKER

Though the way be hard to follow, Though the game be hard to track, Set my feet on trails of beauty, Let there be no turning back.

Though the hunt be long and lonely, Though the search go far and wide, Set my feet on trails of beauty, Let them never turn aside!

CORONADO'S SEVEN CITIES

Winding he came, But the cities escaped him, they were gold But he didn't know why: Seven? There were seven times seven and more, Bright in the western sky.

He didn't suspect That the rumored wealth of the land Could be aspen-gold, Or the waterfall caught in the moment's sun, Poured from a rocky mold.

When men spoke of yellow He envisioned the metal of sepulcher Coin and kind, As he wound through the hills with his tall, plumed men; The conquest of the blind.

LIGHTNING

Lightning is a vagrant Traveling the skyways Flashing on a lantern In the storm cloud jungle.

WHEN NIGHT IS DONE

The dawn Comes tripping down The corridors of day With wind flushed cheeks and starshine in Her eyes.

YOURS SINCERELY MR. WRIGHT:

I was very pleased with the Frank Lloyd Wright feature in your February issue, be cause I have for years been an admirer of his works. Your magazine is a tribute to a great man and a great artist. I can only add what Alexander Woollcott said of the archi tect: "If I were suffered to apply the word 'Genius' to only one living American, I would have to save it for Frank Lloyd Wright."

Your thought, as expressed in your edi torial in your February issue, about Mr. Wright designing a new state capitol build ing for Arizona has often occurred to me. Such an edifice would attract the whole world to Arizona's doors and it would be one of the great tourist attractions of your state. Everyone knows what happened to the Johnson Floor Wax people after Mr. Wright designed their building and tower. The resultant publicity stepped up appreci ably their sale of wax. Here in San Francisco the Morris gift shop, designed by Mr. Wright, is becoming a famous tourist attrac tion. The handsome shop brings in not only sightseers but buyers. When I have guests from out-of-town I never fail to take them to the Morris Shop, and they seldom fail to buy something. It is a place of beauty.

U.S. 89:

Your October issue, devoted to the West Coast Highway of Mexico, had one small item in it which was of particular interest to me. It was the paragraph on page 24 which called attention to the fact that the highway is a continuation of U.S. Route 89 which begins in Canada.

Being an inveterate map-looker, I discov ered some years ago the strategic position of U.S. 89 from a tourist's standpoint, ob serving that it passes through or near more national parks than any other highway, i.e., Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier; but, more than that, the fact that where it leaves the United States at Piegan, Montana, it becomes Canada Route 2, leading to Edmonton and Dawson Creek, through which all traffic must pass to reach the Alaska Highway. At its south terminus, as you have pointed out, it leaves the U.S. at Nogales and becomes Mexico Route 15. It has often seemed to me that cities and states in the U.S. which lie along U.S. 89 might take some official recog nition of this fact, but until the item in your magazine, I had never seen any such refer ence made.I wonder if some effort might not be made to get the United States, Canada, and Mexico to agree on a suitable name, or a common numerical designation for this road, which is now feasible for tourist travel from Fair banks, Alaska, to the border of Guatemala.

IN SAUDI ARABIA:

... It sometimes seems to me that our planned propaganda falls on deaf ears, for it can so easily be recognized for what it is, whereas, on the other hand, a wonderful im pression is made on native peoples by the truth.

I have been living in Saudi Arabia for over two years, and I have come in contact mainly with the uneducated and underprivileged classes . . . and I show them your magazine.

Their desert, like yours, blooms where there is water, and when I show them the pictures of what has been done there with irrigation, it does more to make them believe in our ways than anything else could do, for water is the common denominator here.

Your pictures are on the walls of board shacks, tents, and mud houses and mainly they choose those of southern Arizona as the greenery and richness of your northern country is beyond their comprehension.

OPPOSITE PAGE

"AFTERNOON ON LAKE MOHAVE" BY CARLOS ELMER. Burke and James Press Camera, 90mm Schneider Angulon lens, 4x5 Ektachrome, f.22 at 1/10th second. This photo graph was taken near the fishing camp at Willow Beach. The photographer was attracted by the still waters, the shadowed mountains and the tiny figure of a boat down by the point.

BACK COVER

"ON THE COLORADO IN GRAND CANYON" BY KATIE LEE. Rolleicord, Synchro Compur shutter, Schneider Xenar lens, 120 Ektachrome, f.5.6 at 1/6oth second. This photo graph was taken by Miss Lee in the Grand Canyon about 25 miles from Lake Mead on a river trip down the Canyon last summer. A sudden hail and rain storm and late afternoon light turned the Canyon into a fury of bright and clashing colors.