The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-29


TelltaIe Wanderers In the sky.
what Each DenOtes-signs TO Be
Read.
From the New York Timos.
There is no reason why any man OF sense
may not be his own weather prophet. Ba-
rometers and thermometers and the costly
paraDhernalia Of Farmer Dunn arc all well
enough in their way. and serve their pur-
poses for the man Of science, but the man
with good horse sense is worth a dozen of
the other kind who must so by fixed rules
in order to arrive at a scientific conclusion
concerning the weather. and. as likely as
not. before he has made up his scientific
deductions the wind will change and knock
all his calculations into cooked hat. There
is nothing in nature so tickle as the wind
that "bloweth where it listeth and thou
nearest the sound thereof, and canst not
tell whence it cometh. and whittier 1t
goeth."
Reading signs in the sky is almost as
easy as reading large print in the newspa-
pers. and twice as certainly true for the
time. at least. Anybody. with or without
a telescope, may acquire the language OF
the clouds and make a certainty of the
coming weather as long as the same rela-
ton exist among the wanderers in the
armament" These words were uttered by
a famous weather prophet. Suppose that
you look out Of your south window and
notice some long. narrow. misty-lookiug
clouds. in parallel rows that arc advanc-
ing upward from the edge of the landscape
where the sky joins the distant earth They
are the advance guard of a storm which is
rapidly approaching. Take look at your
barometer that mas been your reliable
guide in the past and has seldom failed
you. and that will not show you the slight
est sign that any change is about to occur.
II is possible it will not indicate any va
ration until that skirmish line has reached
the zenith. This may occupy several hours,
but from your observation of those clouds
you may be as certain of a storm coming as
If you could see the rain falling at your
feet. Winter storms especially are an
nounced by these clouds even DAYS in ad-
vance of their coming. Put it down in your
book as a certainty that whenever you see
those parallel strips of clouds rising in the
southwest and moving in ranks slowly
across the sky, you can be positive that
either wet or snowy weather is at hand.
Every one knows that there cannot DE a
storm or any considerable change of
weather without clouds in the sky, and
there is almost as much difference per-
ceptible In clouds as there is In faces. 1t
must not be supposed that clouds always
foretell storm, for, while we find them in
dicatiVe of storms We also find them tell
ing as certainly of pleasant weather.
Sometimes they inform US Of wind, too,
and 1t is the character of the clouds that
must be studied to get at the truth. which
is then made plain as a pikestaff Very
little careful attention and practice will
enable anybody to read this language of
the clouds. It is a language although
language of signs more expressive than If
expressed in words You have doubtless
seen the deaf-mute speak with his fingers
and noticed that changes in the forms
made with his fingers change the meaning
intended TO be expressed by him. II is
just so with clouds-changes in their forms
change their meanings. These changes
are no mere chance work. for one certain
change always indicates the same thing.
Clouds are not all Of one kind, for there
is a. great difference in size. formation,
color and other things which make them
Indicative of totally different conditions to
come. Years ago Luke Howard, an Eng
lish Quaker. whose business carried him
into the open air for considerable part
of the day, completed a fine classification
of clouds. which has been i'm general use
from that time to this. 1t was one of the
most wonderful phenomena ever witnessed
in the sky that led Howard to study the
clouds. 1t was a dry fog OF 1888 which
overspread Europe entirely, and a part of
Asia and America, reaching to the sum
mits of the Alps. and continuing from one
to three months. according to the local
ity. During the time occupied by this phe-
nomenon great terror prevailed among the
people and 1t was concluded that this
time, a any rate. the end of the world was
at hand.
When Howard began his study of the
clouds he noticed that Of these interest
ing objects there were three different prin,
cipal kinds. These he denominated "cir-
rus" "cumulus" and Stratus" 1t takes
only the glance of an ordinary sort of
man to see the difference between these
clouds. The cirrus is the highest of all
clouds, and you have seen it in the form |
of white filaments. which are sometimes |
called mares tails and eats tails"