Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-18

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THE GULF STREAM.
three days Of January cotton blooms ap-
peared in Plaquemine parish. For three
and quarter months the total rainfall
has been but fraction over three inches,.
or a foot less than common; the city cisl
terms are generally dry, and the people
are using river water BY way of con-
ISOLATION, it is added that the ice factories
of the city are producing ice at the rato Of
5000 tons month, and can, il needed,
produce 800 tons day, at u cost Of Sc
ton.
In Charleston the mean temperature
for December was GO deg. and the rain
fall less than third of an inch. If the
people were not afraid of late frosts,
they would agree to supply northern
markets with early vegetables ten weeks
ahead of the usual tune; and if the pres
ent weather continues cotton could be
picked in May instead of October. At
Syracuse, N. Y, garden roses have devel-
oped and several sorts of shrubs have
formed leaf, while the air has been
warmer generally than in any winter
since 1929. In all New England, save
"thin skin" on few Of the most north
ern lakes, there is no ice, while on the
eastern end of Long Island, which gets
the warm wave at its strongest, dandc-
lions are in full bloom where the earth is
ordinarily hidden by snow.
Explanations abound. But they do
not explain. It is, of course, known that
the winter storms from west 10 east,
or east-northeast, are moving across the
continent in a track from 800 to 500
miles north of the usual line, and that,
rs the storm center creates a suction
drawing side winds towards it, this OPP
crates to bring up warm winds from the
south; but why do the storms go SO much
further north?
! The first explanation offered was the
now familiar one, the maximum(or min
imum) of sun spots. But that is COM
pletely demolished by the records for
many years showing no connection be-
tween sun spots and warm or cold
winters. An explanation just fan
cifuI enough to make it popular was
that of the Gulf Stream; many cap
tains contend that it is gradually draw
ing nearer the Atlantic coast, and there
fore giving us warm and foggy weather,
"quite English, you knaw." There are
three conclusive answers to that. First,
the matter is not so; the Gulf Stream
sways as moved upon by winds and
other currents, but its central line is
lust where it was when first To-
Gated in the charts. Second, England
and western Europe generally have
their usual winters. And thirdly,
and most conclusive of all, the win
ter is even more abnormal west OF the
Ai,eghanies, away up in the northwest
and at the west end of the Gulf of Mex
leo. than on the Atlantic coast. The
Gulf Stream is a big thing. but it could
not make green fields in Missouri in
January.
A few super-scientifc people are in
ciined to fall back on the late Professor
James Watson's favorite theory: that the
earth. sim and solar system, in their
grand sweep through space, pass through
great belts Of heat and cold-great
zones which fill uncOunted millions
of miles of the intersteliar void. 1t is
no,,. generally conceded that the illimit-
able space through which the stars are
scattered (ah,out as thickly in proportion,
perhaps, as II a hundred pin heads were
distributed over tIlD state OF Texas) Is
filed with some ubstance-extremely
tenuous, Of course, but still O substance,
or gas il you please. And 1t may well
be that it has great waves OF heat through
which the whirling systems plunge
Only, We cannot prove it just now.
Sergt. Dunn, the local weather official
Of New York city, propounds a most
startling theory, and very plausible too;
l,ut those who hear it for the first time
SiH have to think while before they
can decide 70 be glad or sorry. His the
ory IN brief ~ this, as outlined recently
In The New York Sun: The change is
permanent, the United States generally Is
10 have milder winters. and the cause Is
that new storm center has bsen estab-
jisi,ed by the settlement, irrigation and
redemption Of once arid region In the
far west. Prom the Black Hills to the
mouth of the Rio Grapde and from longi-
tude 9S deg, or tbereabouts, to an un-
known western line, was once the "Great
American Desert" Settlement and irri-
cation have wonderfully changed its
charactes. tits scarcely an exaggeration
TO say that millions of acres have been
covered with timber since 1850. Within
the memory Of men still living the buf,
falo grass clothed the western bluffs OF
the Missouri Then the dry winds swept
over the plains without hindrance. Nov
artificial groves, ponds, fountains, plowed
fields and irrigating bitches and reser'
yoirs create clouds. A new storm cen
ter has been made by the hand Of man
in demonstration Sergt. Dunn says
that New Yorker who. within yeal
or two. has invested thousands OF dollars
I'm an irrigation company in Colorado re
Gently called on him To tell tho story ol
his ~ luck. After the ditclg;s OF thu
company had been dug at great expens'
and lhe wafer had been turned on. thu
company began 10 look for customers Il
buy their water, But the construction