American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-10-12
The Causes Of Extraordinary Condition.
OF Weather.

The Causes Of Extraordinary Condition
Of Weather.
| Nothing is easier than to invent an an
parently very scientific cause for any nat
ural event, and this is the simple reason
why so many people indulge in this kin,
of mental exercise. When the winter i
severe in the Eastern States of the Union
we hear of a change in our climate by
Stream when the summer Is little hot
ter than usual, we hear of great discover
les having been made, with the spectre
scope, in the sim, where immense masse.
of burning magnesium have been seen
when we have a rainy reason, it is due tt
an extraordinary great number of sur
spots when we have q dry season. it il
that the sun is free from spots, or it is ad
vised that we may produce rain by firiHf
many guns. OF setting the woods on fire
And Notwithstanding that these reason
ings are always afterwards annfhilated by
facts, people will go on i'm the same way
to argue on points on which their infor.
nation is necessarily very limited. and
e1lf1s wiz publish all kinds Of crude no
tions, which appear especially welcome to
the daily morning papers, for the simple
topic in which every one is more or less
interested, namely, the weather.
The idea of a change in the direction OF
the Gulf Stream Is pretty well exploded
at the present date; while that of the
great heat of the sun during the summer
ought at once to have been set at rest by
the reports from New Zealand; as the
telegraph informed us that at the same
time the winter there, which falls in July
and August, was one of extraordinary
severity, SO that heavy wagon loads cross
ed the frozen rivers. which has seldom, il
ever, been the case in other winters. That
large island is surrounded by currents
from kind of Pacific Gulf Stream, which
make its winter climate ordinarily equal
to that Of Florida: notwithstanding It is
at about the same latitude as New York,
10 deg. II now, the sun were so much
hotter than usual, it would have been also
hotter in New Zealand, where it shines
during our night, and the winter there
would have been unusually warm, in
place OF unusually severe. People, in
giving reasons for the peculiarities of the
weather, should first ask If that peculiar
feature has been observed all over the
whole globe, as in that case only could it
be ascribed to SO general q cause as the
sun. 1t was the same when, in the sum-
mer of 1870, a great deal Of rain fell, and
while this was being ascribed here to the
prevalence of sun spots, making the sun
less hot and the weather cold, we re-
ceived the following telegraphic re-
port from England: "a panic pre-
continued dry weather." When, the year
before, the weather was exceedingly dry
out West, and 1t was asserted that great
fire In the woods would produce rain, a
great fire took place shortly afterwards
without any such result.
In regard to the influence Of sun spots it
should be kept in view that, the heat of
the sun being the cause of all evaporation
and therefore of all rain, an increase in
that heat win increase the evaporation and
consequently the rain, and a decrease
must do the reverse; SO that, II it be sup
posed that the SUMS SO covered with spots
that half its heat is taken away. half its
evaForating power would be lost, and
when only half as much water goes up
as vapor, only half as much can come
down as rain. Thus sun spots, so far from
increasing rain, tend to diminish it.
II we look intelligently abont US. and
make use Of the reports reaching us from
all sides by means of the telegraph and
the newspapers, we find cut that the
weather is constantly different in different
localities. Everybody knows of course
that it is always cold at the poles, and hot
at the equator; everybody ought to COM
prehend that it cannot possible rain every
where at the same moment, and also that
at the same time that, on the contrary it
is always cloudy or ever perhaps always
raining somewhere, or a thunderstorm is
going on in some locality or other. And
further, if one locality has much rain for a
time, 1t is at the expense Of some other To-
cality which Is deprived of its usual allow
ance. In short, we must come to the con-
clu ion that ON our earth's surface there
IL always every possible kind of weather
prevailing somewhere. Consequently
nothing Is easier than predicting the
weather. for any given day or hour, If on
ly care Is taken not to mention where the
predicted weather is to prevail, as it is
sure to prevail somewhere.
In regard to the high temperature pre-
vaiIing during several days in July and
August, it must be kept in view that local
circumstances, such as direction of wind,
baronetric pressure of atmosphere, n.y.
grometric condition Of the same, when
acting in the same direction, are amply
sufficient to produce an uncomfortable
condition of the atmosphere. Such an
explanation is more satisfactory than the
far fetched attempts at explanation by
assumed solar disturbances, which could
not affect alone New York city with few
hundred miles around without having
effect on the rest of the globe.-Scientifc
Anses lean.