The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-09-26
THE RECENT nor SPTLL.
Remarkable Conditions That Made the
Mercury go Up and Down.

Mercury TO Up ana DOWN.
The story Of the heated term-the four
weary days during which the greater part
Of the nation has swoltored and groaned-
is a tale Of the marvellous cvolutions Of
the giant powers OF the air. IL is q
story Of mystery, as we'll as Of fact, and
in proportion as the results noted far
surpassed any of which "a record has
been made, so is the tale.
a week or more $50 the observers Of
the Weather Bureau noted that nigh
pressure area had appeared just off the
coast OF Georgia. Whence it came or
how it was formed. none can tell, but
there IL was found. To one who can
catch a glimpse of such aerial pnenom-
ena. it was as IL a monstrous stream
Of heated air Was pouring down, whirllnS
with the sun as IL came. and flying away
in tangents over land and sea. And
there il remained day after day. unccas-
ing and exhaustless. Some Of its stream
ing currents flowed out TO sea, some
passed over the Florida peninsula until
they struck the trade-winds in the Gulf.
and rebOuuding. turned up toward the
North once more, and some, following
along the coast, crossed the Caroiinas
and Virginia. and the other States, until
they came as warm breaths 10 the re-
gion Of the metropolis. IL was warm
weather here, as IL was all along the
Atlantic coast-in fact, ii was so warm
that something more than the customary
report of the Weather Bureau was print
ed i'm the newspapers about IL. with
nothing else TO influence the temperature
than this whirliug downpour from the
mysterious region above the sea, We
should have remembered the season as
one of unusual though not OF hitherto
unknown heat.
1t was the influence Of this sucking
monster, as he fed away, that made
life . burden on Sunday, and IL was
the elimination OF his power yesterday,
when the thermometer in the tall and
windy tower where Farmer Dunn keeps
watch, reached the record hitherto un-
known for that day, Of 80 degrees.
But a new power had appeared mean
time i'm the West TO save the people, and
IL was power that i'm its operations
was more marvellous than that of either
one yet described. Strange to relate, af-
ter what has been said of the ills that
came with the relentless downpour from
the high-prcssurc area, OF the Georgia
coast il was a high-pressure area that
came to bring relief. Similia simihpus
curantur. 4 high-pressure area appear
ed away in the Northwest the birth
place of the tOpsy-turyy maelstrOms That
had destroyed us. II was a whirlmg
downpour. as the one off the Georgia
coast, but IL had its source IN the re-
gion above the eternal SHOWS OF Alaska.
IT was a dOwnpour Of an aerial HOOD as
grateful and refreshing as COOLING
spring TO a desert wardcrcr. Swinging
I'm over the corner of Washington, u
crossed the Snake River Valley, over the
Rocky Mountains IN the west OF Colorado,
and so on to the southeast. until is Icy
breaths were chilling the very marrow
in the bones Of the real-cstate boomers
in the towns of oklahoma.
Rarely If ever has such a story as that
of the progress Of this area OK hign-pres-
sure been told. The frozen blasts that
were hurled from its whring mass went
driving away at all but hurricane speed,
spreading frost and snow wherever their
power was felt on Saturday, the driN-
ing storm spread four inches OF snow
over Utah. ON Sunday the gale was
whitening the prairies of Nebraska, ana
a little later the corn-he!ds Of Iowa.
AT Greeley. COL, fourteen inches Of
snow fell. Everywhere the cold wind
thrust itself under the hot airs that had
come from the South and instantly threw
them up and away, beyond the reach
of the feelings of man or Of mercury
thermometers. In the region about ON
aha the temperature fell 81 degrees be
tween observations. and az Dies Moines
il fell - degrees I'm fifteen minutes, while
the wind there rose 10 velocity Of
sixty miles an hour in about the same
SPACE Of time IL was 4 swift march
of triumphant progress that this mighty
power was making. With its centfc
IFH.N II. D. j. fH
was sending its fierce messengers scurry-
ing away to the great lakes when yes
terday dawned. and before the day was
over they were climbing the western
slope of the Aleshenies, and wherever
thv touched they drove down the mer-
curry from 20 TO ~ degrees. New York
sun.