Abstract. Abortion and death caused by Francisella tularensis were well recognized in range flocks of domestic sheep in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming in the first 6 decades of the 20th century. The current report describes 4 episodes of tularemia in 3 range flocks in Wyoming and South Dakota in 1997 and (1 flock was affected twice). Flock owners reported that ticks were unusually numerous and commonly present on sheep during outbreaks. Tularemia presented as late-term abortions (3 episodes) or listlessness and death in lambs and, to a lesser extent, ewes (1 episode). Lesions were multifocal pinpoint necrotic foci in tissues, particularly spleen, liver, and lung. An immunohistochemical procedure demonstrated F. tularensis, particularly in necrotic foci. The diagnosis was corroborated by bacterial isolation and, in individual cases, by serology, fluorescent antibody assay, and/or polymerase chain reaction detection of F. tularensis. Diagnosticians in endemic areas should include tularemia as a differential diagnosis when investigating lateterm abortions or outbreaks of fatal illness in young lambs, particularly in years of high tick activity and when characteristic necrotic foci occur in spleen, liver, and lung.
To study certain aspects of the climatology of precipitation integrated over the Colorado River basin, daily precipitation values recorded at weather stations in the basin were summed with an area weighting method to yield a daily mean basin value. Several checks were performed to test the reliability of the procedure within the limits needed for this analysis. A good correlation was obtained between computed annual precipitation and annual river discharge. It was found that 50 per cent of annual precipitation is produced by 16 per cent of the number of days having precipitation per year (about 260). A correlation exists between daily precipitation and fraction of area receiving precipitation, so that large amounts of basin‐integrated precipitation are derived from widespread precipitation over the whole basin. This relation holds for both summer and winter, even though the type of clouds producing precipitation changes from altostratus in winter to cumulus in summer. The variance of annual precipitation is caused by variation of the number of days having large amounts produced by passing synoptic‐scale weather disturbances. The numerous days with precipitation less than 0.10 inch do not contribute to the variance and may be reckoned as noise. Seasonal variation of precipitation is small in comparison with the adjoining climatic regimes to the west and east. The constancy of the average course of precipitation through the year may be ascribed to inverse variation of total moisture content of the atmosphere and of the intensity of dynamic factors producing vertical motions.
Furman. R. William. and Glen E. Brink. 1975. The national fire weather data library: What it is and how to use it. USDA For. Servo Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-19. 8 p. Rocky Mt. For. and Range Exp. Stn .. Fort Collins, Colo. 80521. The National Fire Weather Data Library is a collection of daily weather observations from fire weather stations across the Nation. Current data are accumulated on collection tapes, then merged onto library tapes annually. Example run streams are given for using the library on the UNIVAC 1108 computer at the Fort Collins Computer Center.
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