Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-02-03
9ailg greas and 9akotaiaa
COLD WAVES.

How they Form and where they Come
f~rom-Their Course EolIowsd-weath-
er Bureau Teachings.
st. Paul Pioneer Press: When out on
the great northwestern plains there is a
sudden fall of temperature of fifteen de-
grees or more, the United States signal
service IN st. Paul flies its ominous
black conferred flag. "a cold-wave'' he's
started uron it's dismal journey east
ward. Cold waves are thus travelling
across the country in q constant but if
regular procession. They are common
to all seasons of the year. but most fire.
quently manifest themselves in winter,
giving added intensity to the already
GOLD and icy weather. They are not
necessarily of O congesling and death
dealing character, like those which have
laid q merciless hand upon che west and
northwest within the present month; for
as ehown above q fall of only Is degrees is
required to create q cold wave, and snch
o fall may OCCUR at seasons of the yesr
when very little discomfort would result.
Such q change in temperature at any
time, however, is abnormal-a change
which does not rise from the alienation
OF day and night, or from other ordinary
causes. But tho change may be much
greater than 10 deg. 1t often is. Oar
ing the GOLD wave which made its ap
pearance about the 20th of the present
month there WAS q general fell of mer-
curry throughout the northwest OF 80 to
40 degrees, while over q large area there
occurred a sudden drop of about so deg.
inside of sixteen hours. The story of
the death and suffering left in it's path
by that grim yisitant. by the wave
which preceded it has already been told
and need not be repeated here. But if
such experiences as those that the coup.
try has recently passed through are pos
slble, any information regarding the
agencies to which those experiences are
due must have some interest, Take a
glance ct the subject.
as in the Ease of the tornado, the d.
rect origin of the cold wave is shrouded
in mystery. 1t ia known that q majority
of cold waves made their appearance in
the northwest east of the Rocky noun
tains, and 10 Is also pretty we'll estab-
lished that they are due to an thrush of
cold air from the regions of perpetual
and ice at the north. But why
that region should be any more liable
to cold air from the north pole than q
other sections. where cold waves form
less frequently OF not at all. is an inn
portant problem that has never
been solved. Theories have been
advanced based upon the vast-
ness of the plains in that
region and their capacity for absorbing
and giving off beat, but nc theory on
the snb1ect has been generally accepted
n the greatest meteorological authori-
ties in the country do not attempt to
explain the phenomenon IN their writ
lngs. Gold waves may form at any
moment. They seem to depend not at
all ON the time of day, and but to a
limited extent on the season of year.
They do not come and go in cycles but
erratically. Lieut.. Thomas NJ. Wood
"a. .EScs. IN charge OF tho indica-
tions office in st. Paul, made something
of q study OF cold waves while connected
with the chief weather office in Washing
ton, and the results Of ting study are
given in a pamphlet In the "signal ser.
vice notes" series published in 1885.
The pamphlet contains the substance of
all that is known with reference to this
subject. Lieut.. Woodruff made his
studies from the tri-daily weather charts
of the years 1881 to 1884 inclusive.
After stating in q general way that q fall
OF temperature succeeds or follows an
area of low barometer;th that a rise proceed
es such an area, and that with respect
tc an area Of high barometer the rise and
fall OF temperature usually occurs in
reverse order, he says:
Areas OF the high and low barometer
move almost invariably acrosr the
United States from west to east. Most
areas of low barometer are formed in
the region east OF the Rocky mountaine;
and, as these low areas move. easterly,
the high moves in and we have o cold
we've OF more or less intensity as the re-
enlt.
Then it is shown that in the four years
under consideration la of the cold
waves observed originated east OF the
Rocky mountains or came down the east
side OF these mountains from the British
north west territory, while 81 other cold
waves observed came from the Pacific
coast. With bat lew exceptions, all the
cold waves in the northwest appeared
frat at Helena, Mont, and these few ex-
ceptional ones we're felt first at Bis
marok, OAK. nWe must conclude"
adds Lieut., Woodruff: "that these q
have their origin In the vast regions of
Joe and NOW near the Arctic circle, far
to the north Of our statiGns." I
With respect TO their progressive mo.
tions cold waves are divided into three
classes.
First-Those that move directly across
the country from west to east, and
which follow an almost invariable path
along the chain of great lakes and
across New England; these do not ex-
tend to the states south OF the Ohio
river
6econd-Those which move in a south.
easterly direction and Y the entire
country in their progress.
Thlrd-Those which move suutherly
from Montana and Dakota to Texas,
thence through. the Gull states, aad
northeasteriy ove the Atlantic coast
states. IL sometimes occurs with this
class that the cold wave is first
felt in ST. Louis and Shreveport before
being felt at st. Paul and Chicago, and
that then the cold wave takes the gen
ersl movement eastward OF the second
class.
The second. class were the most numer.
U in the four years observed. The rate
OF progress was very variable. Consider.
ing Helena as the first point OF observs-
tion, there were ak cases In which the
cold wave was felt simultaneously at st.
Paul and Helena; 10 in which il reached
st. Paul 8 hours alter ats appearance at
Helene, 10 in 16 hours, IL in "a hours,
70 ins52 hours, 8 in 40 hours, Q in 4S and
! in ~ hours. From this it will be seer
that of all the cold waves that reach st,