New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-17
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ZERO IND ENDER.

There has been no revival this season OF inc
theory That the Gulf stream has chanseu us
c,urse and taken closer dip landward' O"ihB
IN tho excessive mildncss of recent winters this
has becn referred 10 a. the possible cause OF
alterations of climate ard the captains oil
steamcrs in the Southern trade have furnished
como supcrficial evidence to sustain the theory.
In view of recent experience it Is sale 10 as
sumo that navigators and weather prophets VIII
now discard this hypothesis as a transl'ory
yacary Of the public mind. Last weeks con-
tinuous low temperatures and heavy SNOWMAN
revealed tho potency of the old-time climate !;
and n sudden fall Of the mercury TO the MIN
imum point for the present winter mas dis,
pcllcd the hope that the worst was over ana
that the January thaw was approaching
most remarkable feature of this cold wave
is lis southern reach. In Virginia ana len
nessee lower temperatures have been regis
tered than in thi, city. Zero has even been
reached at the Georgia line, and large sec
ton of Florida has been at the freezing point.
Temperatures of 4 degrees below zero at
Iynchbure and q below at Knoxville are per-
haps unprecedented The suffering IN the
South is great, for the reason that houses there
are not constructed for low temperatures In
Chattanooga the situation is exceptionally Serl-
GUS because the water supply Is frozen up
Along tho Blue Ridge the snow ia deeper than
in MANY wears and in the vicinity OF Chesi-
Peake Bay all sorts Of game are perishlng from
the cold Throughout the Western states,
and especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin,
tho mercury has taken an extraordinary plunge
| downward The Same conditions have pre-
vailed simultaneously in Europe. In Russia
| rho cold has been most intense in Germany
there have been unusually heavy snowstorms,
and the cold wayo has swept the shores of the
Mediterranean. Indeed the low temperatures
recorded at once in Europe, Siberia and IN the
United States point to some general cause al
fecting the Northern Hemisphere as Il whole.
t. is a most interesting field for physical IN
vestigaton and conjecture. Perhaps the most
ineligible thing, that can be said about 1t Is
that extreme cold, like intense heat unuS!lal
drouth or excessive rain, comes in cycles.
Tho most serious feature of the continuance
| of ,;oorous weather in our own country is the
scarcity Of coal in many cities. Owing TO the
h;ph prices prevailing during the last year
large bodies of consumers have carried small
stocks which have required constant replen-
;shinq. With the unusual weather sharp de-
mand for coal has been created, and with rail
way transportation impcded and even paralyzed
| in many sections by the heavy snowfall the
| sunnly has been exhausted. From Chicago ana
other Western cities alarming reports or the
scarcity of fuel have been received ana even
in Eastern cities there is cause for apprehcn
sion lest the continuance of Arctic weather may
involve much suffering. Even with this for
midable combination between King Zero and
the coal barons it is hardly probable that the
scenes of st. Petersburg, where large wooo
fires arc kept blazing in the streets for the
benefit of wayfarcrs, will be enacted here.