St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-09

rainfall averages from 80 to ~ lncnes e1
the Willamette valley, from a 20 CO.. "
inches and in the remainder OF the ssaSe
from 8 to "a inches annually. Inc faady
season begins about October loth anu enu'
about May list. Regarding the tempeia,
ture, it is sufficient to state that the rang
in the interior of Oregon is from ~ oelow
zero to 1O6 above. Killing frosts occui
on an average of months during the year.
Louisiana has but one climate, ana INA.
we'll defined. We have hot weather, p9'
we have also the cool Gulf breeze extend
ing inland, reaching the extreme nortnern
portion of the state, which has, however,
a somewhat higher temperature than tna1
recorded in the southern portion during
the summer. The rainfall and moisture
in the atmosphere are nearly the same,
being slightly less north than south. Inc
summers are long, but necessarily SO 1or
the crops that are grown.
Louisiana's comparative immunity from
killing frosts is graphically portrayed ON
the small chart on the lower corner or INC
Weather Map 1t will be seen that the
extreme northern part of this State mas
the advantage of Northern Florida In tnls
particular, and that the southern part OF
Louisiana from Avoyelles parish TO Inc
Gulf has no rival save the southern Pof-
ton of Florida Peninsula. TINS Is
explainable by the fact that the majority
of the cold waves that sweep southwark
over the country during the winter season
are detected east of Louisiana, and Tor the
following reasons The atmosphere
moves in huge waves similar to water:
The cold wave is the base of the crest OF
this wave, and the hollow between the
&c ba or A storm OH
the Texas coast and cold wave forming
in the northwest are conditions suitable
for great fall in temperature between
those regions, since the air resting on the
surface of the earth moves out from under
high pressure, flowing in the dlrectlon
of a low pressure, which in this case would
mean cold, northerly winds flowing from
the northwest to Texas. But since all the
movements of the atmosphere have an
eastward tendency, the storm that was IN
the Gulf yesterday will be found hundreds
of miles to the eastward to- day, ana the
cold wave sweeping down from the north,
west has had it's attractions removed ana
the cold surface winds are now from the
northwest. Another cause of the immu-
nifty we have from these cold waves Is that
there is a wall of warm, moist air over
hanging the Gulf, extending over the
interior of the State, and the INFRINGING
of the mass of cold air from the north with
this warm air is seldom accomplished
before both masses have passed eastward
out of range of the State.
Another cause is that storms having
their origin on the eastern Rocky Noun
tain slope have for an attraction the great
lakes, since all storms will move toward a
humid atmosphere and to where they
have clear sweep, thus accounting for
the great number of our cyclones NOV
ing out of the St. Lawrence valley.
| It must not be understood from the fore
going that Louisiana has no cold-waves,
for during the past winter (my first in the
South the temperature in this city fell to
290 above zero; but while we escaped
with that temperature, caused by high
pressure of air that swept down below a
storm having its origin in Indiana, Florida
on the same lat had temperature lower
than that recorded here. Great Applause.)
Note: The data from which the foregoing has
| been compiled are from signal service RECORDS
| covering the period from November !. 1870 TO
| January l. 1885 and do not include the cold.WaVe
| of January, 1886, when minimum temperatures
of from to 10 degrees below any previous record
were reported from the majority of Southern
and Eastern States.