Beowawe, Nevada facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Beowawe, Nevada
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Beowawe geothermal power plant, 1996
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 Beowawe, Nevada
Location in Nevada
Beowawe, Nevada
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada |
| County | Eureka |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 856191 |
Beowawe ( bay-ə-WAH-wee) is a small town, in Eureka County, Nevada, United States.
The geothermal system at Beowawe
The surface expression of the geothermal system consists of a "215-foot-high (66 m), 1-mile-long (1.6 km) opaline sinter terrace produced by hot spring and natural geyser (sic fumarole) activity along the base of the Malpais Rim. Since 1959, several companies have tested the potential of the area as a source of steam for electrical power generation. The spectacular hot water and steam plume that at present (1985/1986) vents continuously along the top of the sinter terrace is not a natural geyser, but is a free-flowing, uncapped geothermal well." (Struhsacker, 1986 pg 111).
Photos of hot springs and fumaroles - photos '9-67' (1931) and '9-56' (date unknown) - show hydrothermal activity prior to power-generation. It is unknown if those smaller hydrothermal surface features are still active as of 2015, post-power plant development; field reconnaissance would be required to assess the activity of the hydrothermal features. Photos '9-69' (close-up, date unknown) and '9-108' (distant, 1971) show the uncapped well that is not a natural geyser, which was active prior to power-production. Geyser activity at the wellhead ceased circa 1985/1986 as the local dual-flash geothermal power plant began operations.
The man-made geyser at Beowawe in central Nevada is similar to Fly Geyser in northwestern Nevada in that both were artificially produced by geothermal drilling, but the former area was developed for clean energy production and the latter area was not. Another striking difference between the localities is an aesthetic one: more travertine has precipitated from the hydrothermal fluids at Fly Geyser than at Beowawe, generating spectacular mounds at Fly Geyser's uncapped wellhead, thus suggesting dissimilar water chemistry between the two geothermal systems.
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Beowawe has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen type BSk).
| Climate data for Beowawe | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 69 (20.6) |
72 (22.2) |
79 (26.1) |
90 (32.2) |
98 (36.7) |
105 (40.6) |
108 (42.2) |
108 (42.2) |
101 (38.3) |
92 (33.3) |
85 (29.4) |
78 (25.6) |
108 (42.2) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 40.3 (4.61) |
45.7 (7.61) |
54.4 (12.44) |
63.1 (17.28) |
72.8 (22.67) |
82.4 (28) |
92.4 (33.56) |
90.5 (32.5) |
81.1 (27.28) |
68 (20) |
52.3 (11.28) |
41.3 (5.17) |
65.4 (18.56) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 14 (-10) |
20.1 (-6.61) |
25.6 (-3.56) |
30.3 (-0.94) |
37.3 (2.94) |
44.2 (6.78) |
50.5 (10.28) |
47.4 (8.56) |
38.3 (3.5) |
29.2 (-1.56) |
21.5 (-5.83) |
14.9 (-9.5) |
31.1 (-0.5) |
| Record low °F (°C) | -35 (-37.2) |
-36 (-37.8) |
-7 (-21.7) |
7 (-13.9) |
10 (-12.2) |
19 (-7.2) |
26 (-3.3) |
24 (-4.4) |
12 (-11.1) |
1 (-17.2) |
-14 (-25.6) |
-43 (-41.7) |
-43 (-41.7) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 0.78 (19.8) |
0.62 (15.7) |
0.64 (16.3) |
0.77 (19.6) |
1.02 (25.9) |
0.71 (18) |
0.29 (7.4) |
0.33 (8.4) |
0.38 (9.7) |
0.55 (14) |
0.7 (18) |
0.75 (19.1) |
7.53 (191.3) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 5.3 (13.5) |
3.2 (8.1) |
2.2 (5.6) |
1.2 (3) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.2 (0.5) |
1.4 (3.6) |
3.9 (9.9) |
17.5 (44.5) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 44 |
| Source: WRCC | |||||||||||||
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See also
In Spanish: Beowawe (Nevada) para niños
