The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-01-24
How to Foretell Weather.

ftdhter deaiS win the subject of
weather prOgnosticS. Few intplli.
gent persons can have any sympathy
with the sO-called prophets who or
arularly arnnunce phenomena, CIV
ing dates, occasionally making lucky
hits. hut as often firing their random
shots altogether wide Of the mark,
That there is, however, something
in weather philosophy, intelligent
persons will he ready to conceie, and
they will he in accord with the views
of the writer when he recommends
the observation of natural phenOme-
ma, which has been long practiced.
He says:
IfOne could read the signs, each
day fnreteIIs the next !; to-day is the
progenitor Of tomorrow. When the
atm sphere is telescopic and distant
objects stand out unusually clear and
distinct storm is near. We are on
the crest Of the wave. and the depres-
SION follows quick. 1t sometimes
happens that clouds are not so indi-
cative of n storm as their total ab-
sence. In this state of the atmos
pkere the stars are unusually numer-
GUS and bright at night, which is also
bad omen. 1t appears that the
transparency of the air IL Drodigous-
~ increased when CeI,ain quantity
of water. is uniformly diffused
through it. Mnuntaineers predict a
change of weather when the air be-
ing calm, the Alps covered with
perpetual snow, seem on a sudden to
he nearer the observer, and their out
lines are marked with great distinct
ness on the azure sky. This same
condition of the atmosphere renders
distant sounds more audible.
There is one redneSs of the east In
the morning that means storm anOth
er that indicates wind. The first is
broad, deep and angry the clouds
look like an immense bed of burning
Goals the second is soft and more
vapory. AT the point where the sun
is going to rise. and few minutes
in advance of his coming, there rises
straight upward rosy column, like
shaft of dyed vapor, blending with
and yet partly separated from the
clouds. and the base Of which pres.
emily comes to glow like the sun
himself. The day that follows is
pretty sure to he windy.
1t is uncertain to what extent birds
and animals can fOretell the weather.
When swallows are hawking very
high, it is a good indication. because
the insects upon which they feed ven-
ture up there only in the most auspi-
cious weather.
People live In the country all their
lives without making one accurate
observation about nature. The good
observer Of nature holds his eye lOrg
and firmly to the point, and finally
gets the facts, not only because he has
patience. but because his eye is sharp
and his inference swift. There are
many assertions, the result of hasty
and incomplete observation, such as,
for instance, that the way the milky
way points at night indicates the
direction Of the wind the next day /;
alsO, that every new moon indicates
either dry or wet month. There
are many other stories about the
moon too numerous to mention.
Again. when a farmer kills his hogs
in the fall, II the pork be very hard
and solid he predicts a severe winter,
ifs0ft and Loose the opposite, over
looking the fict that the kind Of food
and the temperature of the fall make
the pork hard or soft. Numerous
other instances could he cited to prove
that the would be shrewd farmer does
not interpret nature in the right way
and that his conclusions, being hasty
and incomplete, are wrong and until
he studies nature understandingly,
using little common sense. so long
will he be more or less under the ban
Of superstition and ignorance.