The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-08-27
y MEMORNHLII SEASON.

~ iDIhtblS.\lSlIE SEASON.
: The Summer Of 1906 Will Always -,
Noted for its Heat
New York Herald.
The phenomena summer of 1886 vii
always be memorable for the futaIit,
OF It's neat, even should the last part O
inc season be uuevcntful in brGakins
meteorological records. For nine sue.
ccsSlvc days, ending with tho 18th
inst, the tOrrid weather continued d
over almost the whole country east OF
The Mississippi, showing IL porsistrucy
OF intense heat for which it would bc
hard to iind Il parallel in the weather
annals OF the Unitcd States or any
extra tropical country. If il were
simply Il qurstiol Ct Tic range OF the
thermometer. =. ;trU from al! other
complications { T., the "ctu;L! amount
ol water vapo sG ,pcnucu invio,,bly in
inc ar ana scat ccIy once condensed
into cloud sui cicutIy thick TO inter.
ccpt the suns cry ruys-thc nc% re.
cord wOuld Still be remarkable. Bat
the murbiHc @uu death dealing chur-
AGtcr OF the II .el + hot spell, in which
| several hInarti' persons pcrishGl in
New orh cjtyn nd jtc suburban regions,
Is tho unique al q most notable develop
| mCnt of the season.
But the Terrible midsummer has l., e.
us some lessons which arc very instruc-
tive. The period Of tho fatal heat is
| lndicntGd rs tina. in which the efforts
| OF health officers in ali sections cast Of
the Mississippi (which have suffered
severely from the cpidcn.ic OF pr0stru-
lions and sunotrokcSj should be mos l.
actively put forth fur public funiLntiOn
Though the maNimum temperature oi
our summers usually comes in the
| latter part OF July, the most killing
heat Is TO he expected in August. a.
the summer days begin to shorten
scnSlhly, the waters OF the Western
Atlantic and the Gulf OF Mexico, sup.
piicd by currents llowing from the
equatorial regions, are growing warm
CT and evaporation from their surface
Is more rapid than in June or july
me dense volumes OF VaDOr forming
over these waters of our Atlantic and
Gull coasts in August arc taken up by
every nOuthGriy brC, 10 and piled up
over tho eastern portions Of the United
States. lnhapplIy, too, in the first
hall Ol August, the westerly air Cur
rents which cross the Rocky Noun
tains, moving eastward, and travel &C.
the lakes and the Atlantic coast c;lus
ing thunder storms and cooling airs
was the combination OF all these cOndi
lions with the fcrvid heat that has SC
recently reduced tho ninc-days 8" no
wave"
IL is interesting to note that tn,
great fatality and duration Of this hca
wave is directly traccable to an unus
ually strong and persistent How OF aii
from the ocean arcu-incmdng tn,
l}crmnd"s and the Western North
Atlantic ncraliy--whcrc the barO.
metric pressure has been relatively so
much higher than upon our scnbOurd
that the vapOr-ladcn air has been
forced to the North westward and ac-
cumuIatcd upon the scubOArd. 1t will
! hereafter be practicable for our meteor
Ol0gists, by keeping up Il daily study Of
! the fluctuations OF the barometer in
the Bcrmudas and the Bahamas, to pre-.
wise and predict with considerable uc-
curacy tho formation Of great hot
waves OF the deadly tyre over tho
oaetern half the Of United States. With
sufficient daily data from tncso islands
OF the Western Atlantic any unusual
movement Of the vhpOr charged atmOs-
phore OF the ocean upon our eastern
and southern coasts could be most
readily fOrctOld and due warnings
gwen ITO all the States in the Missis-
slppi Valley and the country eastward
to the Atlantic.
Tho summer OF 1896 opened with un-
usual lOrcC in the Southern hcmis-
phGrc, and in January thc terrific heat
broke notable records in Australia.
~ was natural 10 expect that when
the sun moved north Of the equator
| INTO our hemisphere we should have be-
! lore our summer closed some startling
| weather experience. 1t is Interest,"
! lnG TO note tnnt the extraordinary heat
records made tHiS year have occurred
| AT period when the suns activity and
| spottcdncS3 are decreasing after Il
long period Of intense sofa. disturbances
IL IS not incOnCcivabic that during the
| lattcr period the suns cVapOrativc
force upon our globe was exceptionally
great, causing an excess Of the actual
humidity in the atmosphere OF all re-
gons, which would fully account for
the unprecedented mortality Of the lato
torrid spell.
II ID probable that the tropical hur-
ricanes OF the Atlantic during the
coming season will be as severe ~
usual, and may be exceptionally yio-
lent Had one Of these cyclones Skirtcd
the Atlantic coast last wcoh it would
certainly have can9cd'tOrrcntiat rains.
Though the vapor-tcnsiOn may be re-
duced shortly, flood rains may occur
during tho hurricane season In large
portions Of the Gulf ana South Allan
tic States.
For the present week and the re-
mainder Of the summer we may rea-