Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-26
COMMUNICATIONS.
The Weather Reports.


 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 What good thing, Mr. Editor, it would have been could we have known two or three days beforehand that this cold snap WAS com ingl How many water pipes would have and fingers might not have been frozen, and how many travellers might have taken heavy clothing, instead of going of in spring over coats to shiver and catch colds. We have been moved to these reflections by the fol- lowing extracts from an article on the veath- CT by Professor J. W. Chickering, Washing ton, D. O., published in the last AgTfeuItalr- iSt:
 He says that ''for one or two, or even three days ahead the weather may be fore told two-thirds of the time with great cer- tainty, the other third with more or less of doubt, by any intelligent person who has access to the daily weather maps, or even to the full daily report The whole theory of foretelling changes in the weather, with the aid of the telegraph, is based upon the fact that our weather changes come, as general rule, from the west and not from the east that the great waves of barometric pressure, which we name high and low and whose alternations produce our storms, move across our country from west to east, and almost never in the opposite d. rection, so, that for our weather tomorrow we look to see what it is to-day in th6west of us, with very little interest as to what is go- ing on toward the eastward" :"
 'The pressure of the atmosphere in the temperate zone varies about one pound per square inch, and is indicated by the barome- ter, varying from % inches (low) to 31 inch es (high) as the extremes, the ordinary vara-i tions being only about half as great. Now the storm center is at or near the place Of low barometer, where the pressure is least, n - l. kz- with rotary motion, which in very severe storms is named cyclone. Sometimes, how ever, the areas of high and low barometer extend in long lines across the country from north to south, but moving from west to east, as in many of our cold wayes,' extend ing sometimes from the lakes to the gulf. The greatest fall of rain or snow is usually a little in advance of the storm center, while the barometer is falling. When the center has passed, the barometer begins to rise, and clearing weather may be expected, generally with northwest winds These storm centers, or areas of low barometer, or low pressure, oftenest make their appearance little east of the Rocky Mountains very often in Da- kota, and then move with greater or less ra- pidity toward the Atlantic, generally due east Out of 100 storm centerf noted during 1879, one moved north, three southeast twenty-four northeast and seventy two nearly due east Their velocity varies from 20 to 40 miles per hour, so that eithel storm centers or cold waves travel from thu mountains to the sea in from two to fv' days, then passing of upon the ocean, ire quently taking northeasterly direction sfte reaching the coast"
 It may be wished, MT. Editor, that yo' could publish in your paper the achote article but those who wish to read it, and to see es | peciaIly what Prof. Chickering has to sa!
 about the sspredictions" of "Vennor, lice ana | others" will readily find it in the AgTtcultu''
 est for February, 1882. wish the following i words of Prof. 0. might draw especial at tention ''It would be great gain to th community if our daily papers would giE
 us these reports in full ss they are sent out 1 instead of cutting them down to the mer' | indications for their own vicinity, even i they had to lessen the space given to hors
 races. base ball matches, dog fights and DO lice courts n T.