Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-04-13
Reading Signs I'm the SKY.

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The speaker was gentleman living o.
Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, who ha
done great deal Of sky gazing, but say
he has no desire for a public reputation a
q weather-wise man.
Look out Of the south window. d
you notice those long, narrow, misty
looking clouds In parallel rows that seem
to be advancing upward from behint
Staten Island with the precision ant
steadiness of line of battle2 They ar,
the advance guards of an approaching
storm. The barometer has not given the
slightest sign, and 1t probably will no
until that skirmlsh line has reached tn,
zenith, which may take hours, and yet
am as Gel tain that q storm is coming a
though ! saw the RAIN falling"
"Do you mean that you can foretell I
storm by the clouds sooner than by {
barometer 2"
anybody can. These winter storms,
especially, announce their approach some
times two or three days in advance.
Whenever you see those parallel stripes OF
clouds 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 fore
tell the weatheri There cannot be a
storm or any considerable change of
weather without clouds, and there is al
most as much difference perceptible in
clouds as in faces, if people would but
notice them closely"
''Do clouds always foretell storm ?"
'tNO; some clouds give assurance of fair
weather. A very little practice will en-
able anybody TO read this language of the
clouds. 1t is more like studying q lam
guage than you would suppose. You
know in Latin change in the termination n
of word changes Its meaning. Just SO q
change in the form of clouds changes
its meaning. 1t is no mere chance work,
but certain change always means the
same thing. If 'cirri' turn into 'cirro-
strait every meteorologst knows what
that means just as well as the boy at the
head of the Latin class knows the differ
ence between 'Hic' and 'hujus.'
"Then clouds are not all of one kind p"
"By no means. About eighty years
ago Luke Howard, an English Quaker,
whose business required him to take long
walks Ia the open alr, completed classi-
fcation Of clouds that have ever since
been In general use. One of the most
wonderful phenomena ever witnessed in
the sky led Howard to study the clouds.
This was in the great dry fog of 1888,
that overspread the whole of Europe and
part of Asia and America, reaching to the
SUBMITS of the Alps, and lasting from one
TO three months, according to locality.
The greatest terror prevailed ald the end
of the world was thought TO be at hand.
Howard noticed that there are three
principal kinds Of clouds, which he call ID
cirrus, cumulus and stratus. Anybody
can see the difference between these clouds
at glance. The cirrus is the highest of
all the clouds. You must have often
seen it in the form of white filaments,
sometimes called mare tails and cats
tails Stretched across the blue sky like
delicate lace work, It is very beautiful.
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 cirrl floating over
head, apparently as far away rs when
seen from the earth. In calm summer
evenings, long after sundown, these clouds
may be seen rehectlng the most delicate
tints OF color from the last rays of sun
light that illuminate the higher regions of
the atmosphere.
THE clrrl are composed of little crys-
tails of ice. These clouds and their de-
rlvatlYes cause the halos that are sometimes
seen about the sun and moon. 1t was
probably cirro-strati that caused the grest
display of moondogs and circles the other
day st Denver. Cirrus Clouds indicate
storms and clear weather, according to
Its appearance. If they Sppear in their
most delicate forms after stormy weather,
then period of settled. weather I'D at hand.
When they show themselves in parallel
streaks after fair weather has lasted for
some time, they are the first Indication of
approaching change, Clrri, wien greatly
tangled and knotted, show stormy weather
close at hand. If their borders grow
faint and lndistinct, there is rain coming.
''Cumulus clouds are characteristic of
The farmers call them thunder
heads when they poke their smooth, white.
rounded SUBMITS, glittering In the sun
like silver, above the horizon. In that
form they are the fore-runners of Local
thunder storms. These mountainous
looking clouds sometimes actually exceed
the greatest peaks of the Andes or Him
laYas in SIZE. When cumulIs clouds ap-
pear in warm, pleasant day, not very
large, distinct though soft in outline, aud
cotton balls. they indicate con-
tinued fair, dry weather. On the other
hand, when they grow larger, darker and
more formldble-looking they foretell storms
Just before a rain they sometimes seem to
throw off little feeoy clouds around their
edges. Goethe, the great German poet,
who was fond of studying the clouds, said
that as long as cumuli have sharply defined
borders and white color continuance
of good weather may be expe@ted. Cum
illus clouds often form soon after sunrise
and temper the heat of midsummer day.
Ii they gradually disappear toward even
ing the weather will emain sereue, bat il
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 invisible columns
of vapor rising from the earth. They do
not attain nearly 50 great height as the
cirri Cumuli are generally from half
mile to two miles high. C!rri 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 pointed out to you in the southwest,
and which show Il coming noetheast storm,
are variety of stratus. They elways ap-
pear in the form of stripes or broad, low
curtains, covering more or less of the sky.
The night stratus is formed of mists from