Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-03
COLD WAVES.
COLD WAVES.
How They Travel and Pour Themseivea
Around.

Cold waves, so called-a name for which We
are indebted to recent meteorological science
do not appear to move in most instances much
faster than railroad express train. They vary.
however. In their rate Of motion. And NE are
told these other things about them In q timely
article from the Times OF Hartford:
Where do they come from? 1t is not easy to
say. 1t might be found, if one could travel at
express train speed from the mountains of Mon
tana and the frozen region further north. that
the cold continued all the way to eastern Alaska
and on to Behring's strait. with even q greater
degree of intensity. In fact the coolest region
Is probably the wide eXpanse west and es-
peciaily northwest. of Hudson's bay. In the
nei2hbOrhood of the magnetic pole. A 'cold
wave is wave Of heavy air. following the
rarefied track of "lOw barometer" aud chang
ing the rarefed aud mlder atmosphere (Which
10 usually also stormy to one Of clear, cold
skies; heavy air. full Of tonic power. and ex-
hilarating. and hunger-producing, to sound and
healthy animal life
The establishment OF the modern government
weather observation stations. with their appl!-
ances, Including the electric telegraph and the
daily press. has enabled the country to see and
comprehend something of the movements of
these frequent cold waves. The movement is rs
marked as the advance of a veritable sea wave.
1t is one OF the impressive facts of meteorolo-
Rical phenomena. The telegraph heralds its
start from the Rocky mountains cit always
seems TO begin there, though in fact 1t rarely
d0es-iaying its origin much farther north).
and its advance eau be timed like that OF
railroad train. Its speed varies, from about 40
to 10. or sometimes even 20 miles an hour:
usually 1t would seem about SO. 1t rolls over
the country, real wave. an areal counterpart.
on the shore. Of its congener the tidal wave of
the ocean; and its direction is usually from the
northwest to the southeast It sweeps slowly
down from the frozen wastes Of the Asiatic
shore. and the equally frigid wilds of the
American mainland in the Arctic circle. to our
Atlantic coast-in breadth reaching ali the way
from Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras and fire.
quentlY making its chill presence felt as far
south as Florida. The BernIudas-Which lie
Just south Of the Gulf stream a little over GOO
miles almost due east of Charleston the in
f1uence of our ':cold waves very perceptibly
That solitary little group of small, lOw-ly!ng
coral islands, which can be reached by steamer
from New York in the same time it would take
to go to Savannah, happen to lie On the lee
ward side of the Gulf stream; and that great
thermal current of the ocean forever saves them
from frost, and keeps them in spring foliage all
winter; but while it finely tempers and modifies
the north wind. it cannot quite rob It of all it's
intrinsic charuCter-and the result is wind
that may be at times cool, and frequently bois-
ferrous. but never really cold; and those lonely
little islands. surrounded by their wide-reach-
ing coral reefs. have all winter apleasant eli
or the more southern islands of the Bahamas,
ever knew Of our winter ''cold waves These
come in an almost rhythmical succession. and
have causes. doubtless, as potent as those Of
the oceans tides which they so striking re-
semble.