The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-13
RISING BAROMETER,
An Inch and = Half of Rain Fall During
49,. Alaa Iasf ytorrn-

An Inc and = Half of Rain Fall During
the Last storm.
All day Sunday the barometer in the sig
nal office was climbing--an indication Of
fair weather. Observer Hobbs thought il
would take about twenty-four hoursto clear
up. During the last storm about an inch
and = half Of rain fell, making two inches
ny to the present time since July l. This
Is q good deal Of rain. Some idea Of the
amount OF water prscipitated may be
formed when it ia known that an inch of
rain fall means i4,600,00O gallons of water
to the square mile.
The observer is visited every day by
parties who intend to 90 out into the coun-
try on fishing trips II excursions. A
number have needed his advice and kept
dry, while others have taken pot luck and
got wet. The observer and his instruments
are becoming better known since the ser
vice has been taken out of the red tape
routine of the war department and placed
under the control OF the agricultural de-
partment. which Is more interested in the
weather. The office here would be in much
better position to make predictions If it
we're in constant communication with sta
tions on the Pacific coast and in the North
west territory. on the other side Of the i'll
ternational boundary line. Most of the
storms that visit Montana are first noted
on the coast of Lower California, Oregon OF
in the Canadian possessions north of
here. From here they sweep off east to
the lake region where they usually strike
an area of high barometer. The last storm
formed on the coast of lower California.
Storms which form near the gulf in the
south do not coms this way. Their limos of
travel are clearly marked on the weather
maps as moving northeastcrly, generally
leaving the continent about New Found
land where they are lost in the Atlantic.
Observer Hobbs laughs at the idea of
Prof. E. Stone Virgins. the Canadian
weather prophet. This idea is that the
graph lines on tho prairies in the western
states is the cause of drouth in Canada.
Virgins says there is a constant at
m~ospheric current running up the Missis-
sippi valley, and that the variable winds
sometimes experienced in this wide valley
vailing gulf stream of the heavens. This
prevailing wind bore moisture from
the Gulf of Mexico, and distributed
it over the western states and
Canada. But now the electricity from the
many wires on the great western plains Of
the United States causes tho clouds to pre-
cipitate their moisture prematurely. thus
defrauding the Canadians of their just
share of rain, and at the same time engend-
ering cyclones and other atmospheric con-
WILSON'S in this country.
The theory Of the signal officer at Wash
ington, D. G., is that these storms originate
somewhere in Central Asia. They are sup
posed to travel up through Siberia, cross
Behrine sea south of the Alaskan peninsula,
travel over the western mountain range
somewhere in British Columbia. and then
pass off eastward into the Atlantic ocean.
Sometimes the centers of low barometrical
pressure. which indicate the center of the
~ - ~, N~~r~ In - 1870 -,
tudes than at others. During the last two
years nearly all winter storms passed
through Canada, giving the United States
milder seasons than usual.