The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-01-06
rse weather Prophecies sr ve"nor

The WeaSoer Prophecies ~
To TIC Edisor Of the Providence Journal
The storms which have occurred In tue
Tinted States the last bali OF IDS montn
IDecember. 1ssO,l well illustrate and may
well be taken as good example OF tue &C.
nendeuce that nav he placed on TIE weather.
nronhectes OF Nc. VenDor. III The pnolc
were better informed as 10 the laws govern
ing the weather Of the globe, insteau OF ere
a,iny n surprise that 40 many nave ial'n III
such statements and claims. the surprise
would be that any man OF sc'entinc khoW-
ledge would have the least respect Tor ineth,
az least, uatess Mr.. Nennor VIII d'siinc',s
mt them on the basis OF mere guess'Worh'
and let them be understood TO I've sucb.
II il no new thiog, nor anything pa'en, 10
MFR. Vcunor, that there Is q similarity IN Tue
weather Of The months OF different years.
Rnt ,bo,,cb there nay be this similarity IN
the weather, 1T never wholly repeats Itself;
the changes arc as endless, " not more so,
than the strains that could be produced
from the harp Of a thousand strings. Yet,
with all this, people wender, and even dc.
mand. why the United States weather
bureau does not compete with Nennor. II
one will only study the weather-maps sufil-
GENTLY 10 understand the working OF the
weatber-the laws which 1t daily tofiows-
they will readily see why. But this they VIII
not do, bur, instead. prefer to remain iA lS-
uorance, and then foolishIy demand OF the
Weather Bureau a physical lmp0sstMAty.
The Weather Bureau could guess III the
weather for even ten or hundred years
ahead. but suppose they should attempt AZ,
would these people be one tenth a. cbaIitl-
bIe towards il as Government Institution
rs they are now towards a private indi-
yidual? One can safely say that they would
not be. Then DO sensible man with full
knowledge OF the laws OF meteorology
would want 10 attempt such thing, for he
xelI knows that there Is no certainly IN tue
weather Of d fferent wears repeating itself.
There may be similarity, but that is all.
MI Vennor pre;ends 10 be able 10 fore
east the weather. Does it not strike sensi-
BITE men as absurd that man should only
be able to fOrcteIl great sn0w-storms and
great commotions nPrally! Would 1t not
seem that if he knelr anything about the
weather he would not only be able to tel
for every day in the year but Tor every To-
cality, sag for every square OF bfty or nun
dred miles. According 10 Mr.. Nennors
statement we were to have an Immense
snow.storm generally over the United States
on the 22d OF December. fair interpfe-
tation OF this would have been TO have
had even heavy fall of snow generally
over the northern portion OF the Unto q
States. What was the act ua result! why,
first storm-centfe or area OF lpw Dar0me-
ter in The southwest. This passed from tie
Gulf in northeast direction aud III int0
the ocean, the centre about IN line WIN
the mouth OF the Chesapeake bay. which
created a storm on the 20th and 2ist WIN
snow as far north a southern New England
and along the coast, not extending Veiy lar
into the interior. On the oath new low or
siorm.ceutre developed in cenira, southern
Mississippi. On the % h IL move u to the
North Carolina coast and thence no along
the Atlantic coast towards Boston, Whete
on the 9th about nine inches Of snow ieli;
thence this area OF low passed of the coast
and towards Nova Scotia. Ii will be seen
that the track OF this sOrm was similar 10
the one that preceded il and produced sim-
lar results. On The 2Slh still smother low
over the Gulf, and on the 29th disappeared
northeast into the Atlantic, giving rain on
the immediate South Atlantic and Gull
coasts, and snow in me inferior, and Iiebt
SHOWS thence TO the Ohio Valley and New
Jersey.
In The period covering the last bali OF the
month, very little snow fell gcnerah,
throughout the United States moS' OF the
snow fell in and about the Atlantic coast
from Boston TO Washington while IN
Name, and even the eastern parts OF Can
ala, it has been relatively warm with areas
OF rain. At Providence, X. L., very little
show-none to speak OF at Albany, and
very little generally throughout tie
West. As TO the hitting OF dates.
when it Is known that an area OF
low barometer generally passes over the
United States from every three 10 fOul days
il is rot al all surprising that ono may ven
ture guess and Get within day or two
when o storm Will pass over some portion
of our vast territory. Tnen tins Is the
season OF storms for the northern
hemisphere. Because we have had these
snow-stoImS, thOughtless people m toe
neighborhood where snow has fallen give
ali the credit to Mr.. Vennor. Suppose these
same people lived in Maine, New York
State. or anywhere IN the West nortn Of
the Ohio Valley, what would they think of
prophecies " hich were not fulfilled ans bet
ter for their yasl districts Nothing can be
more absurd than these attempts at fore
casting the weather. There ls nothing GER
tain, scientific, or reliable about 1t. IL Mr..
Vepnor will 90 back 10 the first prlncl-
pies" and tell us where the storm ceuire
will be months in adv nee, thcn we VIII
think that he has some superior knowledge,
nut until he can do this h. had better not
venture any more gucsses in regard to tue
effects which follow thee" iii 81 principles
I.P. NOYhS.
December 81. 1899.