Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-17

course, many instances occur In which it
Is hard to satisfactorily classify them. 1t
is seen that wherever the storms may arise,
whether in Alberta, on the Pacific coast,
in Colorado Texas, Mexico, or in the West
Indian region, they all try, sooner or later.
to leave the United States in the neighbor-
hood of New England. This Is evidently a
sufficient explanation of the very variable
and the extremely harsh weather that so
peculiarly is the lot of that region. If all
roads lead to Rome, all storms and weather
tracks lead to New England.
There are seen on the chart two other
systems of lines %, those marked one day.
two days, three days, four days, and 2)
the average position of the storms that
come in from the northwest IN successive
days; that is, after one day 1t Will be found
on the Rocky mountain slope. in two days
near the lower Missouri and Mississippi val
leys, in three days near the Appalachians,
in four days decidedly over the ocean. The
latter shows the middle frontage OF the
cold wave system as 1t comes down from
the northwest in the winter season.
The August Storms.
The storms of August belong almost en-
tirely to those of the above mentioned
types, the Alberta, the Colorado and the
West Indian. In ten years it was noted
that eighty-three storms came into the
field of the weather map in the month of
"
the northward of Montana or In the north
western districts, and all of them moved
eastward over the lakes and the Va!iey OF
the ST. Lawrence to the ocean, Few OF
them d;ssipating on the way. More than
half the August storms begin and move
along the northern circuit, like beads on a
string, with great regularity The preadtn
of the track covered by them Is ABOUT 4oo
miles, This accounts for the fact that IN
the northern states the alienation of warm
and cool days takes place with wave-iike
regularity, while in the southern states
the temperature Is almost UNIFORM lhooSh
warm, week after week.
The next important place for August
storms to come from Is the state or COL
orado and 1t Is found that in the same
ten years twelve storms orielnatea mere,
moved northeast over the lakes, joined the
main branch in that district. and pursued
their course eastward to the ocean Ihese
Colorado storms in summer are apt 10 De
accompanied by the warm wave tnat seems
to set in at the eastern base Of the Rock
les, and to gradually spread over the en-
tire country to the Atlantic.
The third important system OF storms
are the hurricanes that arise IN the trades
of the tropics, move westward to the Gulf
of Mexico, curve up northward and enter
the United States in the lower Mississippi
valley, or skirt the coast districts, or
else keep off the shore In the neignpor-
hood of the gulf stream. These storms
move in parabolic shaped tracks, spread
over a very wide belt in the latitude
of the gulf states, east and west,
whence comes the chief uncertainty In
forecasting their approach to the coast OF
the United States. Eventually they adj
vance to the same point of departure, the
gulf of ST. Lawrence and Newfoundland.
Only seventeen other storms were OBJ
served In the ten years, 1884 to 1898, in
elusive, scattered over the country In
very desultory way. August storms travel
at the rate of sixteen to twenty-six miles
FER hour or about 500 miles day. The
question Of the rainfall attending tn ese
storms is too large to be taken up, but 1t
can broadly be stated that precipitation
takes place to the east and south OF the
storm center Much of the rain in Au-
gust is sporadic, in the form of thunder
storms, and these seem quite as ready to
form in connection with the high areas
as in the low. This makes it much more
difficult to satisfactorily forecast the time
and place of these small local storms.
The Hurricane Season.
The months of August, September and
October make up the hurricane season,
because these storms are almost unknown
outside these months. Of'the twelve bur-
ricanes referred to, five first appeared
near the Windward Islands. Two Of these
recurved east of the Florida peninsula,
two disappeared over the Gulf OF Mexico,
and one crossed Cuba end the Gulf OF
Mexico in 1885. and upon arriving on the