Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-03-08
READING SIGNS IN THE SKY.
THE WAY FOR EVERY MAN TO BE HIS
OWN WEATHER PROPHET.

THE WAY EOh EvEhx MAN AO OA/ AAA0
OWN WEATHER PROPhET.
Cloud. that rors.sn storm: and :ed,,,sa Others
tina arc Fought BY Misty
SQuadrOhS In the SKY.
New York sun,
sIts easy enough to be q weather
prophet. All you've got to do is to keep
your eye on the sky, and it will be a very
sly storm indeed that steals a march on
you"
The speaker was 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 look
ing clouds in parallel rows that seem to be
advancing upward from behind Staten
Island with the precision and steadiness OF
a line of battle? They are the advance
guard of All approaching storm. The ba-
rOmeter has not given the slightest sign,
and it probably will not until that skirmish
line has reached the zenith, which may
take hours, and yet am as certain that a
storm is coming as though saw the rain
falling"
ado you mean that you can foretell a
storm BY the clouds sooner than by a ba-
rometer?"
"Anybcdy can. These winter storms
especially, announce their approach some
times two OF three days in advance. When
ever You see those parallel stripes of cloud
rising i'll the southwest and moving in
ranks slowly across the sky, you may be
sure that wet or snowy weather is 1T hand.
Il, ,sc tall iNn
weather? There cannot be storm or
any considerable change Of weather with
out Clouds and there is almost rs much
. if people would but notice them closely"
''DO clouds always foretei! storms
No, some clouds give assurance Of fair
weather. \ very little practice will cn
nble anybody to read this language of the
clouds. 1t is more like studying Ian
guasc than you would suppose. You
know in Latin a change in the te, animation
of a word changes its meaning. Just 50 4
change in the form of clouds changes their
meaning. 1t is no mere chance work, but
4 certain change always means the same
thing. If cirr turn into cirro-strati.'
every meteorolO.ist knows what that
means just as well as the boy at tine head
Of the Latin class knows the difference be-
tween HE and HUNS.
:" Then the clouds are no: all of one
kind -
BY no means. About eighty years
ago Luke Howard, an EngIi>h Quaker,
whose business required him to take long
walks in the open air, completed 4 classiti-
cation of clouds that has ever since been
in general use. One of the most wonder
fui phenomena ever witnessed in the sky
led Howard to study the clouds. This
was the great dry fog of 1888, that over
spread the whole of Europe and part of
Asia and America, reaching to the sum-
mits of the Alps and lasting from one to
three months, according to the locality.
The greatest terror prevailed. and the end
OF the wcrld was thought to be at hand.
''Howard noticed that there were three
principal kinds Of clouds, which lie called
cirrus, cumulus and stratus Anybody
can see the difference between these clouds
at 4 glance. The cirrus is the highest of
all clouds. You must have often seen it
in the form of white filaments, sometimes
called mares tails and cats tails. >
Stretched across the blue sky like delicate
lace work. it is very beautiful. Travel
crs say that on the summit Of lofty noun
tain peaks, from which they could look
down upon the heavier clouds. they have
seen these wispy cirri floating overhead
apparently as far away as when seen from
the earth. In calm summer evenings long
alter siindown, these clouds may he seem
rejecting the lEost delicate tints of color
from the last rays Of sunlight that illum-
mate the higher regions of the atmos-
phere.
"T.le cirIi are composed Of little crys-
tails of ice. Thcs,: clouds and their deri
vatives cause the hiios that are sometimes
seen about the sun and moon. 1t was
probably cirro-strati that caused the great
display Of moon dogs and circles the other
day at Denver. Cirrus clouds indicate
both storms and clear weather, according
to their appearances. If they appear in
their most delicate forms after stormy
weather, they are sign that a period of
settled weather is at hand. When they
show themselves in parallel strcaks after
fair weather has lasted for some time,
they are the first indication of approach
ing change. Cirri, when greatly tangled
and knotted, show stormy weather close
at band. II tl,eir borders grow faint and
indi>tinct, there is rain coming.
Cumulus clouds are characteristic of
summer. The farmers call them thunder
heads when they poke their smooth, white
rounded submits, giitterins in the sun
like silver, above the horizon. In that
form they are the forerunners of local
thunder storms. These mountainous
looking clouds sometimes actually exceed
the greatest peaks Of the Andes or Hima,
&vas in SIZE. When cumuius clouds dis
appear in a warm, pleasant day. not very
large, distinct though scft in outline. and
resembling cotton balls, they indicate con-
tlnued fair. ~ r"5a-h"l. O.: tic other
hand. when they grow larger, darker and
more formidable looking they foretell
storms. Just before rain they some-
times seem to throw off little fleecy clouds
around their edges. Goethe, the great
German poet, who was fond Of studying
the clouds, said that as long as cumuii
have sharply defined borders and white
color a continuance of good weather may
be expected. Cumulus clouds often form
soon after sunrise and temper the heat Of
midsummer day. If they gradually dis
appear toward evening the weather will
remain serene, but if as the sun goes down
they grow darker and more numerous.
then look out for rain. The cumuli are
the capitals, or condensed submits of in
visible columns of vapor rising from the
earth. They do not attain nearly so great
height as the cirri. Cumuli are general
ly from half mile to two miles high.
Cirri vary in height from two or three
miles to six or eight
"The stratus is most common at night
and in winter. Those long ranks of clouds
that L pointed ont to you in the southwest
and which show coming northeast
storm. are variety of strains Thov