The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-02-14
Average for established monthly mean


Average for established monthly mean . IS .as
Our table shows clearly that the tempe allure Of the
present winter almost an exact mean between the
highest and tho lowest winter temperatures OF the last
ven ye"is anu - moreover ony onetenth OF degree
colder than The average OF the established monthly
indicates The winter Of It's was the cold
est but Of the series Of ten calculated as above
Referring again 10 the question OF thermometrical
compensation and applying the records already given
TO that theory, we must conclude thai we are only
returning to the normal condition Of the winter
weather which the meteorological OF the past
century show to be natural 20 our latitude and climate
and that in the return we are receiving the large
balance Of heat of which have been deprived during
the cold winters which have Immediately preceded the
present one Even within the short space Of year
this compensation Of temperature shows itself very
markedly Thus, in 1865, the maximum temperature
rose TO % deg while the minimum fell 10 Is deg ;
but the mean for the year differed from the es-
tablshed mean, based on long term OF years, only
43lO0 OF a degree ia ga the maximum temperature
90 deg and the minimrm deg, but the annual
mean was Sill deg-the samS as the established
RECORDS OF COLD WINTERS IN EUROPE.
Strange records of these seasons running back more
published in Vienna in 1855 1t tells such tales as
these.Tha in 703 the Black Sea and the Dardanolles
were frozen over the ana ice rising IN some o.
the cities fifty feet and pushing down the walls. In
1858 Charles X is recorded to have carried the whole
Of his army including artillery across the Little Belt
on the ice; while in England the price Of grain was
doubled In 1909 in the south OF France, the olive
plantations were almost entirely destroyed and the
Adriac Sea frozen completely In 1875
the Danube ice was five feet thick
YEARS OF EXCESSIVE HEAT.
On the other hand, marked years Of excessive
heat and drought hcky scattered the pages Of
the chronicles In 1884, in which fell in Italy
after May, and Ills, ''when the heat closed every
theatre Paris" as in 1745, ''when neither rain
nor dew fell for months in Europe" yet the mean tenn
perature OF period OF years differs from the mean of
different periods by wondrousy small decimal OK
preston.
Having established the fact that although we are
now experiencing period of extraordinary warmth
which either for cold will be
followed by corresponding fall OF temperature. and
that the mean temperature OF the season IS perfectly
normal when we measure it by the standard estab-
lished after long and laborious research, can only
account for the warmth OF January and February by
seeking for some powerful agency which is evidently
IN operation to produce this compensation OF tempera
ture
THE CAUSES or EXTRAORDINARY VARIATIONS
These are mainly the obquity of the suns rays on
northern hemisphere in winter-the rotation of
the earth on its axis, which produces the oastery flow
of atmospheric currents and the enormous evaporation
in the tropical seas, by which motion is impaired
the volumes of water OF different tempera-
lures and the atmosphere is loaded with
heat and moisture, which are distributed
by radiation and by the atmospheric currents over
large areas of the continent Growing out Of these
general causes OF variation OF temperature the
special causes which affect localities Among these
the Gulf and Arctic currents in the and the
northwestern and southern atmospheric currents on
the land The former are constant factors IN the cal
culation Of our Atlantic climate The latter depend
wholly on nconstant causes and are therefore liable
to be interrupted in their operation. Now, we have
had the obliquy Of the SUMS rays this winter
during the coolest we have experienced The Gulf
and Arctic currents have continued To flow along orr
coasts they have always flowed The search for the
cause of the rapid variation OF temperature mar
rowed down to an examination Of the atmospheric
factors, and IL Is in these that discover
change Of condition. The cold created
in the northern portion Of the hemisphere
by the absence OF the SUMS heat an
enormous in the density OF the atmosphere
which produces a southwark movement Of the air into
the spaces occupied by the and rare1ed
atmosphere in the south. When this movement is
met BIZ counter movement OF laden
from the south the contact Of the opposing atmospheric
volumes those cyclones and storms which
familiar 10 us on this continent The storms gener
ated the Pacific Ocean always reach us from the
northwest and those which arise in the Atlantic but
rarely disturb our New York climate. We therefore
look the northwest for winter storms and their
absence, has been the case this winter, leaves
wholly TO the influence OF the Gulf Stream warmth,
which, in measure assists in repelling the invading
cold waves from the north. The southern air waves
in this way enabled TO move further NORTH and we
experience the consequence of their presence in the
shape of warm, cloudy weather.
1t has already been suggested in our columns
! that there may be close relation between the
general warmth Of this winter and the recent
volcanic disturbances on this continent While
this a difficult matter TO establish, yet il is by no
improbable that such relation exists because
the enormous force necessary TO shake the earth's
crust is only heat in the form OF mechanical effort,
which, when expended again, resolves itself into
heat and Is liberated into our atmosphere raising its
temperature beyond the degree which all the other
agents could produce. As long the vapor held in
suspension in the atmosphere retains temperature
higher than 81 deg cannot have snow. In like
unless the surface Of the earth cools of suf
GENTLY by radiation will have no ice. We have had
neither the one nor the other and might therefore
reasonably conclude that the conditions have been
to be unavorabe for the formation of ice aud
snow and that these conditions created by tho
agency terrestrial heat We feel the tn Of the
weather because have hitherto been experiencing
series of cold winters The is by contrast
with other winters and the amount OF heat necessary
raise its temperature TO the established stand
ard is unevenly distributed.