The morning call., 1891-06-29
A SWELTERING DAY.
The Mercury Touches the Nine
tieth Notch,
But Many San Fran eiscans Are Ready to AZ
firm It Was the Hundredth-Where the
Hot Wave Came From

Saturday was warm enough for most San
Franc isc0 people but Yesterday the city re-
ceived such a thorough baking rs made
many old-timers imagine that they had
been suddenly transported back to the
streets Of Panama OF the torTid plains asSc-
ciatad with painful "reminiscences of the
Nicaragua transit. 1t was what even
New Yorker from " alter street or Phlla-
deIphian from Race street or a Baltim0rean
from Light street would admit to be warm
dav on the water front Of those cities The
Water-frouters Of San Francisco tried their
best 10 keep cool, and invoked all The
powers If lager and steam beer to with
stand the heavy can on their sudatory
glands. but the more they imbibed the more
they peTspired.
There were numerous comparisons lnst-
tuted between the surrounding conditions
and a uameless place said to be paved with
good intentions. If there be a lid TO the big
internal cau,dron il was certainly tipped
up a bit somewhere in the vicinity Of the
water front OF San Francisco yesterday.
Not few who called to mind the slight
shock # earthquake early in the morning
held that some germs Of truth were con-
tanned in the saying about earthquake
weather
SOME WARM SHEETS.
1t was warm all over the city, but there
was remarkable and noticeable difference
between the temperature in the streets
running toward the ocean and those denied
tie blessing of the sea breeze. Thus, on
California street the heat, even in the full
rays OF the sun, was beaTable and even
comfortable as compared with the narrow
streets running at right angles with it
I4idesdortf, for example. On some Of these
connecting streets the asphalt was fairly
melted, and the pedestrians Who painted and
ga>p-d as they crept along found them
Sc YES walking on "a sidewalk as ueacheF-
OILS rs a mud flat or q heap of banan peel
it was ca these streets and in the alleYs Of
Chinatown that the temperature was high
est.
carefully prepared thermometer with a
blaekeued bulb registered 90 IN the shade
in several of these alleys al % clock In the
aiteru0 n. Exposed IN the shade, on grass,
With proper precautions against radiation
from surrounding heated Duck-WOrk and
woodwork tue lowest temperature OBJ
tanned al the same hour M cooler parts OF
the city was tr.tie over So. On the prevl-
Gus daE the maximum was ~, yesterday II
was pTuDablv 50 for the city as a whole.
with extremes OF 9Uo and so. An enthusi-
astic citizen exhibited tOta CALL reporter
thermometer Just brought IN after ten min
ules' exposure TO the sun at O'Clock IN the
afternoon wiki The mercury standing at 1852.
WHAT THE THERMOMETER SAID.
1t is q rare event for the temperature to
rise above 10 in San Francisco, even on an
exceptionally warm summer day, but about
once or twice IN each year such figure IS
reached and occasionally exceeded. The
reason why the summer temperature of this
city Is so exceptionally low for It's latitude
j. II course the influence of the Japan cur
IA ith Ihl "A
south, after cooling down TO 90 in the cir
cunt around the Aleutlau Islands. The
wind blowing from over this cold current
through the Golden Gate goes to cool the
Sacramento and San joaquin valleys, and
hence Il Is q simple and generally accepted
principle that the hotter 1t Is IN the great
valley, which is walled in by the Sierra Ne
vada aud the Coast Range, the stronger the
current Of cold air flowing IN to supply the
vacuum caused by the rising of the heated
air stratum above the Sacramento and San
joaquin plains.
EXPLANATION OF THE HOT WAVE.
There are two notable breaks in th- noun
tain Grains d the Pacific Coast; the one at
san EIauciSc', lie other JuSJlnland Of Santa
Ba baIa. At these two spots the cold air
blows DO, as a regular thing, 70 cool the
heated plains, ana, OF course, once III
while the conditions are reversed. The hot
ar from the plains leaks out through these
gaps. Ike the air from an oven when the
got IFS dose yesterday and on Saturday.
These cold and hot currents may be fairly
termed aerial rivers, and they pursue pre-
CI-ely tie same course as river, rushing
through narrow gaps and the fCrca dying
lut a. they spread over a VIDE area. The
" IyrJueT,' a, the bot wave IS sometimes
locally called, Is IN most cases az unbidden
visitor from the alkaI deserts Of Nevada OF
d. Is. especially IN Southern California, a hot
air leak through the San BernardinO gaps
from the MCjaye Desert
there /, one very apt illustration Of these
hur-ajT aStS, SlTucCus or SimCOns IN the
phenomenon observed at Santa Barbara on
June i, 1859. On that occasion the temper
allure during the morning was between Is
and so degrees AtuOOu blast Of hot air
from the northwest suddenly swept over the
town causing he thermometer t. rise rapidly
till at . O'clock IN the afternoon ii Indicated
I3} degrees, remaining al that point Tor
nearly three hours.
AN HISTORIC MOTHER.
The only persons who could obtain even
4 moderate degree Of comfort were the
jewellers in adobe houses, the thick walls Of
which failed TO conduct the heat. Calves,
rabbits and birds were killed, the gardens
were ruined, fruit was blasted aud bOatmen
exposed on the coast bad their arms blisteTed.
At o'clock the temperature fell to I'D de-
gTees; at o'clock Il was down again to r.
On June 10, 1864, another hOt-air blast
visited Santa Barbara, raising the tempeTa-
ture TO o. degrees n the shade, and accom-
panied with heavy gusts Of sand. Los
Angeles and San Luis Obispo also exper-
fenced the effects The crops were most
disastrous y affected.
There are about a score Of records of hot
waves in San Francisco since the pioneer
days, but yesterday was probably as hot as
shy day in the city cOuld be. Later IN the
afternoon when the sea breeze asserted its
Strength the temneTatuTe declined senslbly.
Even at its greatest intensity the heat was
not Of that depressing atmospheric quality
observed in New IUrk and other Eastern
cities, where hot wave shows no signs Of
'lettII up" even when night comes on.
PEEJUDICES ABANDONED.
A curious result of the visitation was the
WipHg out of the instructive antipathy be-
tween the white and Monaghan races on
alta Plaza. An through the afternoon and
evening Of yesterday white men and Chi
nese iaf in perfect state OF mutual tolera-
ton on the grass, having but one over
sitting Sums II Chinatown, Pacific street
and the Barbary Coast. At O'Clock ID the
afternoon the plaza looked ike a battlefield
al the close Of a sGnguinaTy contest.
The boats and cabe-caTs were not 50
crowded as might have been eXrected. The
majority Of those having Well-Yentilated,
shady homes found it more agreeable to
spend the day at home. For once in life
time, 80 all events, the native people Of this
city had taste OF he blessings" OF life
in a. Eastern city, without paying the cost
Of ira SportatiOu across the continent. san
Francisco yesterday would have made the
average New Yorker on 4 visit exclaim,
why, this is just ike hOn:el