The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-07-01
Is TIE CLIMATE CnANGINGg

The officers of the Signal Service Bureau
have started new theory to account for
the alienation of cold and warm winters
in the cities Of the Atlantic seaboard. This
theory rests upon the fact that storm
creates an atmospheric disturbance, which
attracts atmospheric waves from either
side. All storms in the East come from the
y OTthWeSt-Dakota or Minnesula-pursue
a southeasterly course and eventually
strike the Atlantic Coast, Hence, the al
gument is that a storm passing south OF
New York will draw prepOnderance Of
atmospheric waves from the cold north,
and thus cause a cold winter, while a storm
passing north of New YORK will draw
preponderance OF, waves from the south,
and will cause warmer weather. The Tea-
soning is not as close as might be wished,
but it appears TO command respectful con-
sideratiOn from meteorologiSts.
The theory will not apply TO this locality,
because our temperature is governed less
by meridian than by the japanese current
aud the trade winds Nor is there much
variation III the course of the storms which
strike this Coast. Nine-tenths of them
originate far out at SEA on the Pacific. and
are first felt at Cape Flattery, or at some
point between Cape FlatteIy and Cape Men
docinO. Their course after they reach the
land varies in obedience 10 meteorological
factors which are not yet generally under
stood. But except that in the rainy season
the storm generally travels south, in oppo-
sition to a south wind, no general law has
oeen laid down for their normal direction,
and it has not been observed that they al
feet the temperature.
The effect of irrigation on an extensive
scale on climate has yet to be figured out.
Sergeant Drum of the Signal Service argues
that when New Mexico and Arizona are
thoroughly irrigated the moisture oyerhang-
ing their surface will attract the atmos-
pheric pressure from the meridian Of Cairo
to the meridian of Pueblo, and that the
snOW-stOrms which now raYage the North
eastern States in winter will cease to occur
in such 4 contingency New York might
have a winter climate as mild as the towns
of Florida. When it was first proposed to
irrigate the Colorado Desert it was demon
stIated that the existence Of great fresh
water lake on that sand eXpanSe would
change the climate of Southern California,
which might then enjoy rainfall as copi-
Gus as that Of the Upper Sacramento Val
ley. Water begets rainfall Fresno is al
ready experiencing beneficial effects from
the extensive SN STEM u GllCutS WHICH AttS
been introduced OF late years.
That the climate Of the world is COLI
stantly changing is no longer matter of
controversy. The evidence that Siberia
was once a tropical country and that Brazil
was once covered with ice is too abuEd-
ant and too clear to admit OF doubt, and it
is reasonably certain that the climatic Viz
cissitudes to which the rocks bear witness
civ ha ole l,a
had a climate and are in progress still.
They ara probably, however, toe slow TO
have been noted in any atmospheric record.
Careful study of the writers of the Au-
GUSTAV era and of the era Of literary activ-
ity in Greece shows that the climate Of
Rene and Athens must have been about
the same two thousand years ago as it
is now. George Ebers, whose studies have
been exhaustive, evidently believes that the
climate Of Thebes three thousand years be-
fore Christ did not vary much from the
climate of Cairo at the present day. So
much may likewise be inferred from the
identity of the clothing of the common peo-
pie under the Pharoahs with the clothing
Of the fellahs Of our own period. Thus,
we may say that, as to the parts Of the
world we know best the climate has not
varied in five thousand years.
Even fifty centuries, however, is but a
day in comparison with the life of the world
we inhabit The mind loses itself when
scientists point to beds of coal which took
Two hundred and fifty thousand years to
assume their present shape or to scratches
on the rocks which were eDgraven by the
ice-drift at even a more distant period.
Human thought cannot compass such vast
stretches Of time any more than it can form
definite idea Of the billions of miles
which separate US from the fixed stars. But
one thing is certain: if the climate Of this
country is changing. as Sergeant Drum be-
lieves, none OF us will live to see the change
accomplished, and our posterity will be-
lieve with difficulty that our present eli
mate ever existed.