Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-01

foonan, on the eastern SIDE OF the noun
tains, the average fall is only % inches.
This rain falls almost wholly from June to
October. A similar effect takes place
on the southern slore of the Himalaya
mountains, about 800 miles from Cal.
cutts, where at an elevation of 4, 500 feet
the fall of rain in 1851 was 6l0 inches, all
of which fell from April to October during
the prevalence of the southwest monsoons
The average annual fall OF rain in the
United States is: For Alabama and Louis.
lana, Sc inches Oregon, 40: Florida, As I;
Virginia and the Carolinas, As; Tennessee
and Kentucky, As; Georgia, "A Arkansas
and Missouri, AZ; Maryland and Pennsyl-
vania, Al; Ohio, 40; New England, 40 /;
New York, 81 /; Michigan and Wisconsin,
81 Iowa and Kansas, 81 /; Texas, % /;
California, IS; and New Mexico. -
When the rain is very unequally distributed
throughout the different months, the year
is naturally divided into the rainy and the
dry season. Throughout most of Califor-
MIA but little rain falls except during the
six colder months. No rain falls during
the summer months, when the wind blows
almost uninterruptedly from the south
west, because this air comes from a colder
ocean, and passing over the heated land,
the vapor is not condensed until it meets
the Nevada mountains on the eastern mar.
gin of California. There are certain por-
tions of the globe which are habituslly,
and others occasionally, deluged with rain.
On the southern slope of the Himslaya
mountains, at the hight of 4, 500 feet, in
latitude 25, there has been registered in a
single year 6l0 inches of rain, l47 of this
falling in June.
SNOW AND ITS FORMATION.
When the vapor of the air is precipitated
at very low temperature, the vapor is
condensed in the solid state, without pass.
ing through the condition of liquid, and
generally assumes the crystalline form.
These minute crystals of ice attach them.
selves to each other, and form flakes of
snow, which descend very slowly to the
earth. When the lower stratum of the air
is much above 80 degrees the fakes of
snow melt before they reach the ground,
so that rain may be frequently seen falling
on an open plain, while from the same
cloud snow is falling upon a neighboring
mountain. During the severe cold of win.
ter we sometimes witness snow produced
artificially. When large number of peo-
pie are assembled in the same hail. and the
room being uncomfortably warm, win
dow is opened, the warm air of the room
is frequently condensed by the cold exter.
nal air, and falls to the ground in the form
of fakes of snow of extreme delicacy.
Within the torrid zone snow is almost
never seen, except on elevated mount aims,
because, near the level of the sea the TEN.
perature is above the freezing point For
a similar reason, in the middle attitudes,
the fall of snow occurs only in winter. At
all places where the thermometer in win
ter sinks much below % degrees snow may
occasionally fall. The boundary of the
zone within which snow does not fall, ex-
cept in few very rare cases, is an undu.
lsting line crossing the Pacific Coast of
America near latitude 80 degrees and the
Atlantic Coast near latitude So degrees.
1t passes near Gibraltar in latitude 36
degrees, and on the coast of China descends
to latitude "a degrees, which is but little
north of Canton. A slight fall of snow oc.
casionally occurs at San Francisco New
Orleans, Galveston and Charleston, S. C.
Snow has also been known to fall at Can
ton, within the torrid zone to the depth of
four inches. Snow is slightly phosphores-
cent. This is proved by the fact that in
the darkest nights, when the ground is
covered with snow, the snow appears
more luminous than the eky. Its light
cannot, therefore, be simply the reflected
light of the sky. This phosphorescence ap-
pears to be in part acquired by exposure to
the rays of the sun during the day. If, on
the morning of clear day, we cover por.
ton of the snow with an opaque screen,
and uncover it at evening, we shall find
that this portion is somewhat less luminous
than the surrounding snow.
RED SNOW AND THE CAUSE.
liz those places where snow lies unmeltsd
from one year to another it sometimes &C.
quires a ruddy color, and occasionally be-
comes red like blood. This occurs in the
polar regions, and also on the mountains of
southern Europe. In Spitzbergen the snow
sometimes appears of a green hue. 1t has
been discovered that these colors are due
to a vegetable production resembling a
mushroom, which is excessively minute,
not exceeding one one-thousandth of an
inch in diameter. There is, then, a species
of vegetation which may flourish at a tenn
perature which never exceeds that of met.
ing ice.
HAIL AND SLEET NOTES.
The smsl Il hailstones of winter are termed
sleet, to distinguish them from large hail,
which falls under different circumstances.
The quantity of hail which falls from the
sky in a single shower is sometimes enor-
nous. In New Hampshire, in the year Of
1851, the average depth of hail was four
inches. In storm that passed over the
north Of Scotland, July "a, 1918, the depth
of hail was nine inches. On the 18th of
August, 1880, in the streets OF the City of
Mexico, hail fell to the depth of sixteen
inches. Hail is most common in the
middle latitudes. In Europe hail occurs
most frequently near the Atlantic coast
1t falls in every pai t of the United States,
but cases of very large hail occur but sell
dom. 1t falls occasionally, but not often,
in the West Indies. Hail-storms usually
travel rapidly over the country in straight
bands OF small breadth, but considerable
length. Observations made in mountainous
countries have enabled rs to determine
nearly the elevation at which hail is
formed. Small hail is of common occur
ence on the summit of Mount Plane, l5..
744 feet above the level of the sea, but
Z.
India, at the height of 5000 feet, hail.
stones have fallen of sufficient size to do
considerable damage. In 1885
HAILsToNEs WEIGHING EIGHT OUNCES
Fell at the base Of a mountain in the
southern part of France, while only small
hail fell at the hight of 4 900 to ). 900 feet.
From these and similar observations it is
inferred that in the middle ATTITUDES hail
often begins to form at an elevation of l6,-
900 feet, but attains its greatest size below
the hight of 5000 feet. The cold which
congeals Huch large masses Of ice in sum-
mer is mainly due to elevation. The tenn
perature of hailstones at the instant of
their fall has often been found below 50
degrees, and sometimes as low as % de-
grees. They must then have been sub.
jected to temperature as low as 20 de-
grees. In the neigh borhood of New York,
at the hight of Is 900 feet, the average
summer temperature is 20 degrees
and it is believed that during
the formation of hail the tempera.
ture of the upper air is considerably
below the mean. The formation of hail is
invariably attended by two distinct cur
rents of air, and one Of these currents dis.
places the other with great violence. The
current Of air which precedes the approach
of hall-storm is extremely hot and highly
charged with moisture; that which sue