The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-05
WHY WINTER COMES.
astronomy Explains n Problem Con-
nected with the Seasons.
Baltimore Sun

sun.
~ Like the coming of spring, the approach
81 81 winter Is continuous, but far from uni
Iorm A few days of cold weather are sue
SSeeueu Dy week or more of warm, the
ilrst frost is followed by an Indian summer,
put gradually and surely the cold periods
last longer and the warm ones are shorter
until winter is fairly upon us, and even
then the STEADY frost is often broken by
periods of much milder weather. The phe-
nomenon is very much like that of the
rising or falling tide on low sea beach,
Inc general level OF the sea is constantly
rising during flood tide and constantly fall
ing during the ebb, but the waves which
mark Its progress on the shore are far
from uniform either in the height to which
they send their foam or the force with
which they break. A great wave rushes in
ana carries the water limit high the
or the first ones mark, a third produces
scarcely any advance on the second, but
the fourth sweeps away the first ones
mark and shows the steady rise of the gem
eral level of the water.
Moreover, the effect is not uniform at all
points. AS one looks down the coast he
sees the hlgh-Water mark of the various
waves intersecting each other without ap-
parent reason. At this point the wave which
we may call the first has made its mark,
but a few steps away the third has far
outstripped either the first or the second
In its advance on the shore. A little
further a puddle of foamy water shows
that some wave anterior TO the first has
reached an even higher altitude than any
or the later ones have been able to reach.
or the whole great expanse of sea must
have been raised uniformly, and that the
markings on the shore are due to what are
Which have no direct relation with the gen.
eral rise of the tides.
1t is not altogether surprising that the
variations in the weather should find q
parallel in the variations in the progress of
the tides on the shore Both are results of
astronomical phenomena, and both are very
liable TO interference and deviation by
large variety of causes, many apparently
trivial in themselves, yet potent enough to
produce grave effects. 1t is this constant
interference with the uniform effect of the
greater causes which renders weather prog
nostications so uncertain, and which con-
POUNDS the most subtle observers on the
subject of the weather.
The great general cause of the change in
temperature from heat to cold is very we'll
known. 1t is the position of the sun in
its relation to the position of the surface
of the earth under consideration. The
great mOdifier of this cause is equally we'll
known. 1t is the power of the earth to alb
serb and retain heat for longer or shorter
period and TO radiate from that heat when
the external supply is reduced. Thus the
hottest days are not those on which the
sun Is most nearly vertical over any point,
but many days weeks later, the heat
already absorbed adding to the fervency
of the suns rays, although these have al
ready begun to lose small amount of
their heat-producing power. The sun reach
es its furthest apparent north about June
% but it IS not usually until the first or
second week of July that the thermometer
records it's highest point.
But apart from this there are a host of
other circumstanceS-Som local, some gen
eral-which modify the amount of heat re-
ceived by the earth. In spite of numerous
assertions to the contrary, it is in no wise
probable that the amount of heat received
by the earth from the sun is ever altered to
any appreciate extent, sun spots or no
sun spots. But clouds in the atmosphere of
the earth have a very marked effect in
themselves the product of the suns heat
and of air currents generated by the same,
as they are diSsipated by great elevations
as when they encounter mountain ranges
or by great earth radiation-aS when they
are forced to cross wide arid Stretches-the
attempt to reduce to a scientific basis the
phenomena of the weather would seem al
most hopeless.
The rotation of the earth. DETECTING the
of the earth'S surface, gives a general
trend to the course of these currents, but
this also is liable to innumerable modifica-
tionS, due to inequalities of surface and the
relative height of air currents. Newton has
wisely said that more causes for natural
things are not to be assigned than are both
necessary and sufficient to explain the
phenomenon, and it is useless therefore,
to speculate other and more obscure
causes until these have been thoroughly
studied.
The weather is uncertain. Some of the
causes of its uncertainty are known many
are unknown. but proceeding slowly but
surely from the known to the unknown it
may be hoped that the mind of man will be
able to grasp in time all the conditions
which enter into the cauSatiOn of our tickle
American weather and give a firm founda-
ton for the still young science of meteor