Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1881-04-14
READING signs n rHE SKY.


r'auis .rhai Fnrstsu storms aud Others
That fraasite Fhif Weather Issttes That
S eAfe Fought by duty squad ons ia the
sky. 80 M
q It's easy enough to be wca,he
e mopbct All you'yo got to do is 10
s keep orr eye on She sky and IL wal be
E avery 4ly storm Indeed that steals
march on fou
%1he speaker wasa a gentleman living
81 Columbia Heights, BROOKLYN, who
has duns a great deal OF sky gazing, but
who saws lie has no desire Tor public
reputati ION as weather-,yise man
Lock ont Of the south window Do
you notice those long, narrow. misty
looking clouds IN parallel rows that
seem 10 be advancing upward from be-
lind Staten Island with the PRECISION
and sieadiness OF a line OF battiep They
are tho advance guard Of an apprua b.
sng storm. The barometer has not
Eiccn the sligistest SIGN, and il probably
Sill not until that skirmish line has
reached the zenith, which may take
hoprs, and yet | am as certain that "A
storm is coming rs though | saw the
gain falling" -
'Do You mean that you can foretell q
storm Gy the clouds sooner than by a
barometer"
"Anybody can. These winterstofms.
especially, announce their approach
sometimes two or three days in ad-
vance. Whenever you see those par-
allol stripes OF clouds rising IN the
southwest and moving IN ranks slowly
across the SKY, you may be sure that
wet orsnowy weather " at hand. Why
should not the cloudsforetel the wealth
erf There ranuct bcn storm or any
considerable change OF weatherwithout
,aouds, and Diere Is almost as much
difference perteWible IN clouds as in
faces, II people would but notice them
elosely,
'1io clouds always foreteII storms?'
no some elonds give assurance OF
fair weather A very little practice
will enable anybody to read this
language of the clouds. 1t is more ike
studs ing n langtiage than you would
suppose. Yon know in Latin a change
in the termination Of word changes its
meaning just so a change in the form
Of clouds changes their meaning. It's
40 mere chance work, bnt ceTtain
change always means the same thing
II scsrrf turn into cirfo.strati, every
mciorologist knows what that means
the Latin class knows the difference be-
tween 'Iliol and sH0ias
Then clouds are not all Ofonek kindP'
'I.y no means Ahoat eighty years
> ago Luke Howard, an English Quaker,
e whose bus ness required him to take
long walksin tie open am. completed
q classification Of clouds that has ever
~ since been in general use. One of the
most wonderful phenomena ever wit.
messed .intha sky led Howard 10 study
heiclonds, This was in the great dry
fog Of 1888, that overspread the whole
.pf Epgope and part Of Ashland America,
~ feacling 10 the SUBMITS OF the Alps,
and lasting ffcin one TO three months,
recording to the locality. The greatest
terror pIepafiedF i ihid the end of the
world was thought 20 be at hand.
Howard !, noticed that there are
three principal kinds of clouds, which
4 he callod firfls eumDlns ahd stratus.
AnyhdiY cad sae the dlaetente be-
. I Ngeen taese clenas II gia1ce.e The
iFrns y the highest of az the clouds.
Tpu. must EiWe often seen y IN the
form ~ khNe alamepts sometimes
called Eiafea tales and cats tails.
Stretched across the blue Sky like dellz
cate lace. work it is very beauuhlk
Travellers say that on the summit OF
lofty mountain peaks, from which they
could look down upon the heavier
clouds, they have seen these wispy
ciIri floating overhead, apparently as
Ear away as when seen from the earth
. Ia calm summer evenings, long after
sundown, these clouds may be seen re-
tleeting the most delicate tints al color
from the last rays Of sunlight that u.