The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-18
THE ANNUAL SNOWFALL.
Is 1t Decreasing?-Lack of Government
Statistics Regarding 1t.
Especial Correspondence

4
Especial Correspondence
| Boston, Nov. 30.-It is vaguely but gen
orally understood that there is less snow
| precipitated from the atmosphere year by
| year than was formerly, and this is a mat
| ter of no small Importance, not only 10 the
! countryman who depends upon snow &c
ease his heavy winter teaming, but TO the
! city man to whom snow is an almost I'M
mitigated nuisance. AS to the extent OF
the decrease in the annual snowfall how
ever, it is impossible to say anything def
| mite.
| The government weather bureau will
| doubtless, in the course of time. be able To
| furnish some comparative statistics, but
until recently it has been the rule to keep
no record of snowfall as distinct from rain
fall. Snow, of course, is only frozen mist,
and whatever bulk of snow may fall i
reckoned as rainfall and added in the rain
column at the rate of ten inches of snow
| for one inch of rain. Only within a few
years, however, has the snow column been
kept by itself before adding it into the rain
column, SO that it is impossible TO say how
much less snow falls now than fell twenty
or thirty years ago.
gard to its rain equivalent, presents phe-
| nomena which are of the utmost impor-
lance to country and city folk, all over the
land. Snow is blessing more or less dis
guised, according to circumstances, and of
late years there has been a notable change
in regard to the proportion Of the tech
nical ''rainfalP' that comes in the form of
snow. Few facts that are not matters of
careful record are better established than
this-that less snow falls nowadays than
fell twenty or fifty years ago. This is GER
tainly true as to the middle states, and
probably true generally east of the Mis-
sissippi. Whether it be true in the far
west is questionable. More stories Of
heavy snowfalls in the far west come east
now than came formerly, but it cannot be
said that more snow falls there or less than
formerly, for we know comparatively little
about what happened there formerly. So
far as the facts are really known, it may be
definitely said that less snow falls in this
country than used to fall
Why is this7 The field of conjecture is
wide one, and many theories seem ap-
plicable to the facts, even if no one of
them is adequate. 1t is declared, for in
stance, that in the neighborhood of large
cities the atmosphere is artifcially heated
TO such degree that snow is often trans
formed into rain while falling. This phe-
nomeuon, by the way, is not as remarkable
as it may seem at first sight. Meteorolo-
gists tell US that the cirrus clouds, float
ing often ten miles high or more, are COM
posed of solid ice, and that when they fall
they are often melted and dissipated into
vapor before they have time to reach the
earth. 1t is easy enough, in view of this,
to realize that nature may, by the aid of
the artificial heat arising from large
town, turn snow into rain while it is fall
ing. And it is further true and seems 20
be corroborative that as snowfalls decrease
in volume winter rainfalls increase.
But the heat from cities does not ac-
count for the decrease in snowfall in the
country. Old farmers in many parts
New England will remark with n
dying wonder, that whereas they alway IS
used to count on six weeks sleddin in
The month O. March," they have not had
it for many years past. When it comes to
consideration of snowfall in the country
the theorist gets his work in again. He
Is of two or three kinds this time One
man will tell you that so much more cleo
tricity is created" nowadays, that it
changes the climate. When you remon-
strate at the idea of creation" and argue
that there is no more electricity in the
universe now than there always was, he
will respond with electric heat that YOU
are wrong, and as nobody can possibly
prove either proposition the argument
dies.
As to the origin of the electricity that is
doing away with snow according to this
theory, one man will point to the enor-
nous increase in electric appliances of all
kinds and the incalculable leakage of the
subtle fluid. Another man will declare
that the disturbances of the atmosphere
by the thousands of railroad trains that
are constantly travelling create" electric
ity all over the country. And again, no
body can possibly say whether he is right
or wrong.
Still another theory is a favorite and
well worn one The rapid destruction of
forests, we are told, has much to do with
the question Of rainfall Here theory is
apparently borne out by facts Rain fall
ing on open ground is absorbed by the
earth and does not readily rise into the at
mosphere again TO fall again as rain, but
falling into forest 1t is caught by the
lcdfcS dLO CNdpOAdtSS iulCElN,
more clouds and more rain. 1t is little
difficult to see how this applies directly to
the snowfall, but the theorists claim that
it does.
The last and probably the best theory of
ALL since it is supported by the best author
fly, is that the climate is ameliorating
throughout the country. and snowfalls
are consequently decreasing, because of the
extensive artificial irrigation of the land
that has been going on for dozen years.
This has been figured out and proved in
the most technical and elaborate fashion
to exert & very positive influence on the
mean temperature of the atmosphere all
over the country. AS a matter Of course,
the mean temperature being raised, less
snow falls.
Statistics in the matter are particularly
hard TO get. Possibly as they multiply il
the future the number of theories will de-
crease l inquired at the government
office for information as 70 the line Of ear
Hest snowfall across the country and for
the line os most seutherly snowfall, but
coald get neither. As a matter of course
the mountain ranges-the Allegheny and
the Rocky-carry the latter line TO its most
southerly points, but beyond this vagus
statement, patent TO every schoolooy, !
rot no Information. c. i. DAVIS