The herald., 1894-02-18
PROPHET PECWS PREDICTIONS,
A Local FOrecaster Knocks Out
the Weather Bureau.
The Weather to Be Expected From
Now Until June.
A Forecast Made Under the Herschel
Rulss-some Points About
Southwestern and
Other Storms.

let6 than MIR. George ID. Peck of Ell
Monte. He can discount the weather
bureau officials and rarely makes even
slight error. He has made a prediction
OF the weather up to next June as fol-
lows:
The column OF "Weather Indications
in our local journals of Goth of January,
reads: "For Southern California, fair
weather, followed by rain Saturday (23d)
evening"" Result: No rain fell on 23d,
and not until 3lst. Again, on the 23d
OF Decem Der. the San Francisco Weather
bureau is reported thus: ''For Southern
California, Sunday Gath of Decsmber).
fair weather." Result: 1t rained here
from O'Clock a. n. Gath to 9 a. m. 25th,
1.45 inches. This last is especially COM
mended to those patriots who believe
that everything in Los Angeles county,
whether material or ideal, to be truly
valuable, must come from distance.
Such wild contradictions are not in
frequent.
Very likely, when Los Angeles be-
comes a central and Independent wealth
er bureau, such discrepancies will dis
appear.
soUTHwEsTERs AND OTHER STORMS.
Recently a leading San Francisco Jour
nal complimented their local official on
the verihcation OF his forecasts OF
southwestern on the 9th of December.
| Ny forecast in Los Angeles paper OF
tn Both OF September read: POSSIBLY
a Southwestern between 22d and 10Th OF
! December"
The same (San Francisco) journal
once complimented a former San Fran
cisco weather observer for discovering
that our so1thwesters frat appeared on
the north and northwest coast of Van
couver. / do not know that any special
credit for being the first to call atten-
ton TO the origin of our south westers is
! due to any one. But if 80, seemingly,
it should be to resident of Los Angeles
county. For in February, 1890, In a
lecture before the Historical society, on
the Herschel Rules, said: mo rains
are probable on p. m. lunstions except
from those which occur between and
| 10 O'Clock; and then they are called
| 'southwesters.' Starting from the
southwest they may veer to the south,
southeast and east. The Herschel the
DRY apparently embraces two kinds of
storms. to-wit Those that come be-
tween q. m. and 2 p. n, which may
be called a. m. lunatons, and those
which come from tbs. southwest on the
/ entirely distinct from the former, come
only IN the winter, j. g., cold weather.
I and generally are severe. Where do the
southwesters originate? The answer,
to my mind, Ia very simple. The Euro
pean, western or southwestern storms
referred to by DIR. Herschel undoubt-
eddy, L think, came from the Gulf (of
| Mexlc0) stream, current then COM
paratively unknown. This current is
Warmth to 70 degrees when it
reaches the shores of Newfoundland.
There the atmosphere is much lower
40 to 30 degrees-snd in consequence
there is enormous evaporation and great
cloudiness. The Gulf stream divides
into several currents between lat. AZ
and 30 degrees going Z to Western and
Southern Europe, and NE along its
and NV coasts into the Arctic. From
the Gull (of Mexico) stream proceed the
storms which strike the western part of
Europe.
The current OF Japan, in methods
and effects, parallels in the Pacific the
Gulf (of Mexico) sire am in the Atlantic
1t divides into different streams in
about the same latitudes. Following
northeasterly along the coast of Japan
it reaches the colder Okhotsk and Rerin0
seas, where its warmer currents experi-
ence enormous evapOratione, more e.
pecially in the winter time, the season
o. our southwesters. Here it divides.
the left arm going into the Arctic ocean
and the right going towards Alaska.
turns south and follows the coast.
These storms, according to present in
formation, are fret observed at Van |
couver. They sweep over enormous
areas and must extend at times well 10 |
the south, for occasionally they enter |
this vicinity from the s and SE,, though |
most generally they start from the SW.U
The storms of the northern and east |
ern states start in the Pacific. At least |
one hall OF the storms beginning here
go there. TIE proportion has been
greater for two years or more, and the |
heaviest and most terrific eastern storms
are what would be our southwesters did |
they not go eastward. In my 20 years.
residence in Los Angeles county it has
been very Observable that mot mention
ing smaller ones the weather has larger
% to IL or more-year cycles. In nine
OF the years the storms may be said to
uuNc uccu AOl ldhi VI AhOhouIhUly regular.
the southwesters being II equent, and in
winter, Of course. The other three win
tere of the cycle have been abnormal.
that is, there have been com psrstiye
absence OF southwesters, because thew
have gone esst. This was so from
l969-7O 1901, 1S7l-72, lSS0-8I.
1882, 1928, and has been go far
lS9O-91, 1912, 1929. 1S93-94 /
may not be entirely exact in these
figures, but am enough 80 to show that
Tor about nine years south weeters come
and for about three years. or
4 little over, they are few, because they
20 elsewhere.
This would be in accordance with the
theory OF Professor Tice and other plan
,tary meteorologists, that these larger
cycles OF IL years coincide with the rev
,lution of Jupiter around the sun, which
s once in 11.86 years. Also that for
,yer year before and for about two
,esrs after its major equinox, the sec
semi-tropic like ours-are
ubject to violent storms and cyclones.
In observer who may have expert !
need only the last three years of our
emi-tropical climate might readily con. :
lude that southwesters are infrequent ,
lere. But the next nine years would
how that our sea-going vessels would be |
lnsafe without an easily accessible and Z
Yell protected bsrbor. !