The morning call., 1891-11-07
THE NOVEMBER roc.

About these days the oldest inhabitant is
going about saying that such fogs as are
now enveloping San Francisco have never
been witnessed before within the memory
OF man. And certainly during the morning
hours the fog does remind people Of the
| PTybiloff Islands, which the navigator
reaches by following his nose and steering
not by compass, but by the delicate fra
GRANGE of the fur seal. 1t is not as thick as
the Loud0n tog, in which men try 10 shake
hands with Iamp-poStS and mistake the
entrance OF an alley for a.front door; il
cannot be bottled and laid away for future
use ike the fogs on the banks of New
foundland; but it is thick enough to limit
the range of ordinary vision to a few yards
aud to shut out enc side of street from
the other. Like all fogs, it is searching,
creeps through thin oVercOatS and soakS q
collar and necktie in no time. 1t carries a
copious stock of catsrrh and bronchitis on
hand and supplies them literally to
customers. To strangers it makes our
boasts over cur glorious climate seem ridi-
culouS, for TO them 1t is foggy, raw and dull.
Yet il is the normal fruit of the meteor
illogical conditions which render the
climate of San Francisco so uniform, and,
on the whole, so healthy. Here, as in fairy
land, the winds have sucked up from the
sea contagious fegs. The japanese current,
sweeping along the ice-c.ad coasts of the
north and blending with tie cold stream
which flows necessarily from the pole, rolls
past the keadlands, tempering our average
summer climate by twenty degrees, as the
gulf stream temperS the winter climate of
London 10y Twenty-Five; in both cases the
impac. of cold and hot air resolves the
moisture Of the atmosphere into mist. But
for that current we should have few fogs
but our summer heat would be as fierce as
that of Charleston.
Dwellers il the city hardly realize the
density Of the fog which has now lasted for
nearly three weeks. In town about 10 OF II
o'clock every day the sun comes out with
power and the fog evap0rates. But at the
Heads it rarely lifts at all. 1t derives con-
slant supply from the passing current. and
mariners dare not move. But for the siren
and the fog-whlstles they would not know
where they were. 1t is only in rare lucid
intervals that sea captain takes the risk
Of making for the Golden Gate. When the
fog lifted for an hour or two on Thursday a
whole fleet of large ships, mainly four
masters, came scurrying into port
Some curious meteorological phenomena
accompany tue LbS SAholuc l9IC I1tdLS-IEltl6
or no wind is blowing. High southerly
winds prevail along the coast of Washing
ington and storm signals are displayed at
all the northern ports. But south Of brakes
Bay calm reigns. Yet the sea is breaking
over the bar with unusual violence, and the
waves are capped with white foam. 1t is
evident that storm is raging some where a,
sea and that its effects reach this shore,
though the wind does not. The Weather
Bureau predicts new atmospheric disturb
ance, though the small cyclone of Tuesday
which was reported from Vancouver Island
| has passed east into Manitoba.
Our first winter storm is about due We
! have had dry autumn, with weather, as a
! rule, delightful. The time has come to ex-
pect rain and cold. Indeed, the beginning
Of the winter rainfall has been delayed. A
little later than this time last year the flood
gates of heaven we're opened in earnest, and
the wettest of all wet seasons had begun.
According to the law of rotation the COM
ing winter should not be very wet. The
rural counties can stand moderate precip-
itation in 1912 The soil still retains a
good deal of the moisture il got last year.
But there Is no rule in these matters. We
have seen two seasons of heavy rainfall
succeed each other. People who are wise
will make preparations for either event