The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-04-01
READING SIGNS IN THE SKY.
THE WAY FOR EVERY NAN TO BE HIS OWN
WEATHER PROPHET.

"Its easy enough TO be weather
prophet All you've got to do is to keep
your eye on the sky, and it will be very
SLY storm indeed, that steals march on
you"
The speaker was a gentleman living
on Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, who
has done good deal of sky gazing, but
who says he has no desire for public
reputation as weather-wise man.
'Look out of this south window. Do
you notice those long, narrow. misty
looking clouds in parallel rows that seem
to be advancing upward from behind
Staten Island with the precision and
steadiness of line of battle? They are
the advance guard of an approaching
storm. The barometer has not given the
slightest sign, AMI it probably will not
until that skirmish line has reached the
zenith, which may take hours, and yet /
am as certain that storm is coming as
though / saw the rain falling
''Do you mean that you can foretell
a storm by the clouds sooner than by a
barometer!"
"Anybody can. The winter storms
especially,announce their approach some
times two or three days in advance.
Whenever you see those parallel stripes
of cloud rising in the southwest, and
moving in ranks slowly across the sky.
you may be sure that wet or snowy
weather is at hand. Why should not
the clouds foretell the weather? There
cannot be storm or any considerable
change of weather without clouds, and
there is almost as much perceptible diff
ference in clouds as in faces, if people
would but notice them closely"
"Do clouds always foretell storms?'
'No, some clouds give assurance of
fair weather A very little practice will
enable anybody TO read this language of
the clouds. 1t il more like studying a
language than you would suppose You
know i'll Latin Il change in the termina.
ton of II word changes its meaning. Just
so n change i'll the form of clouds chan
ges their meaning. 1t is no mere chance
work. bat certain changl always means
the same thing. If 'cirri' turn into cir.
ro-strati, every meteorologist knows
| what that means just rs well rs the boy
at the head of the Latin class knows the
difference between IIlc' and Hui us
"Then the clouds are not all of one
kind?"
"By no means at all. About eighty
years ago, Luke Howard, an English
Quaker, whose business required him to
take long walks in the open air, compile
ted classification of clouds that has ev
er since been in general use. One ol
the most wonderful phenomena ever wit
messed in the sky led Howard to study
the clouds. This was the great fog ol
1873, that overspread the whole of Eu
rope and part of Asia and America, reach
ing to the submits of the A lps and last
ing from one to three months, according
to the locality. The greatest terror pre-
vailed, and the end of the world was
thought to be at hand
"Howard noticed that there were three
principal kinds of clouds, which he called
carrus, cumulus and stratus. Anybod,
can see the difference between these
clouds at a glance. The cirrus is tn,
highest of all clouds. You must hav,
often seen it in the form of white fila
ments. sometimes called mares tails
and 'cat tails Stretched across tn,
blue sky like delicate lace work, it i
very beautiful. Travellers say that ol
the summit of lofty mountain peaks from
which they could look down upon tn
heavier clouds, they have seen the wisp,
cirri floating overhead, apparently a
far away rs when seen from the earth
In calm summer evenings, long afte
sundown, these clouds may be seen re
tlecting the most delicate tints of colo
from the last rays of sunlight that illu
inmate the higher regions of the atmos
phere.
"The cirri are composed of little crys
tails of ice. These clouds and their dc
rivatives cause the halos that are some
times seen about the sun and moon. |
was probably GIRO strait that caused th
great display of moon dogs and circle
recently at Denver Cirrus cloud
indicate both storms and clear weather
according to their appearance. If the
appear in their most delicate forms afte
stormy weather, they are sign tina
settled weather is at hand. When the
show themselves in parallel streaks afte
fair weather has lasted for some time
they are the first indication of approach
ing change Cirri, when greatly tangle
and knotted, show stormy weather clos
at hand. If their borders grow fain
and indistinct, there is rain coming.
"Cumulus clouds are characteristic G
, summer, The farmers call them thur
, der heads when they poke their smootl
, white rounded SUBMITS, glittering in tn
, sun like silver above the horizon. |
that form they are the forerunners of l.
cal thunder storms. These mountainou
looking clouds sometimes actually excee
the greatest peaks of the Andes or Hin
alayas in size. When cumulus cloud
disappear in a warm, pleasant day, NJ
very large. distinct though soft in on
line and resembling cotton balls, the
/, indicate continued fair, dry weathe
On the other hand, when they grow la
:, ger, darker and more formidable lookin
, they foretell storms. just before raj
they sometimes seem to throw off lit
, tleecy clouds around their edges, Goetl
! the great German poet who was fond
, studying the clouds, said that as long
cumui have sharply defined borders an
. a white color, n continuance of GOO
, weather may be expected, Cumul
clouds often form soon after sunrise al
o temper the heat of a midsummer day
a they gradually disappear toward ev
ming the weather will remain serene b
q if as the sun goes down, they gro
= darker and more numerous, then 10,
y out for rain The cumuli are the cal
!. tails, or condensed submits of invisil
> columns of vapor rising from the cart
They do not attain nearly so great
height as the cirri. Cumuli are gener;
y ly from half mile to two miles hlg
o Cirri vary in height from two or thl
q miles to six or eight
"The stratus is most common at Mig
ia and in winter Those long ranks
# clouds that | pointed out to you in t
y | southwest and which shou a con,t,