New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-27
GPFIT SNORS.


when the roads are blocked with snow and
railroad travel is suspended except perhaps at
fitful intervals, amid binding storm and drift
ing heaps that make walking almost impossi-
Bile, we are apt to think that the present is
an experience of unparalleled severity But
meteorological laws hold good in the widest
storms, and the weather of the day is but the
counterpart of that of other days now half
forgotten. And then as now, like causes pro-
duced like results. We may never be able in the
slightest degree to control the weather, but we
are fast learning to fOretell it. knowledge
of facts is the first step to science OF laws
There has been more actual progress made in
this branch of investigation within few years
than there had been previously in many CEN
turtles We are no longer subject to the re-
proach Of not knowing as to the WIND,
Whence it cometh or whittier it goeth."
That, "Old Probabilities" tells us every morn
ing. The next step in order is to demonstrate
why these great movements of the atmosphere
take place; and this is already half within our
grasp.
1t is one of the finest evidences of the way
in which mems minds are now opening to re-
ceive the facts of science instead of the un-
tested evidence of the senses, that prompt
credence has been given to the paradoxlcal
statement that "north-easters come from the
South. Ii is difficult to believe at first, while
facing up Broadway, that the storm which
dashes in your teeth and whistles around your
right ear is not the product of the Puritanic
waves and bitter Atlantic winds that are
only kept by historic rocks from
washing away New-England But the
truth is that in Winter. the ocean
is warm compared with the land. Warm
currents sweep through it from Equatorial
regions, and the fact that it does not freeze
| in these ATTITUDES Is evidence that it presents
a warmer surface to the air above it than does
the dry land Down on its broad surface all
day long the sun is drinking up invisible par
ticles and suspending them above it, gradu-
ally accommodating till the air can hold no
more. Meanwhile in Winter the cold dry
breezes of the northwest are freezing
every skating pond, stifening the soil,
and making the thermometer an OBJ
ject of unusual interest. There's never big
"snow till there's ice TO bear it," say the
weather wise. Take some of the most notable
snOw-storms and try them by the rule. 1t
will be found that they were usually preceded
| by intense and long-continued cold. This was
the case in December, 1885, rendered memoir
| able by New York's great fire, when all the
hydrants were frozen. The snow-storm which
followed that "cold spell" was perhaps the
heaviest ever experienced here. The storm of
Jan. 49, 1852, which gave one week of sleigh
ing with the good old omnibus sleighs, over
bank of solid snow breast high from the Bat
terry to Union-square-the finest " Sleighing
" Carnival New-York ever saw-was pre-
coded by intensely cold weather. The snow
of Jan. 5, 1855, called I" the biggest since
1885," was preceded by clear weather, so
cold that the thermometer went considerably
below zero in Boston. Just before great
snow-storm in the early part of January, 1854.
four persons were frozen 20 death in Phila-
delphia, and the thermometer sank in st.
Louis to the unparalleled point of "a below
zero. -
We might largely multiply these examples, !
but it is not necessary. Whel the inequality
of temperature between land so cold and q
sea so comparatively warm has accumulated a
condition of sufficiently unstable equilibrium
in the atmosphere, that which overhung the
sea comes rushing over the land. North |
casters" as is now well known, start on their |
long curves from tropical seas. Striking our
cold land winds. they precipitate their own |
moisture. As it freezes into snow in falling |
the moisture gives out its latent heat which |
it has brought, perhaps, from the Equator.
AS the snow falls, consequently, the air usu-
ally grows warmer. Not only are general
rules like these descriptive of most snow
storms there are other Accomplishments,
strangely frequent. Many fires usually pre-
cede them during the '"cold SPELL" and usu-
ally some railroad accidents. This could be |
readily shown in detail, but the law which |
occasions the concurrence is obscure-if in
deed it is to be sought elsewhere than in the |
rigors of the cold itself. Perhaps 1t will be |
sufficient to adduce as examples the New
York fire of 1885, and the plunge of q railway |
tram into the Haekensack River the night !
before the great snow-storm of March 81 1861. |
HASTE MAKES WASTE
Secretary Boutwell,, while before the Ways