Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-03-16
A STORY OF WEATHER
WHY THE MONTH oFmARcH lsnrre.,
 CLUSTERING AND STORMY.

Some Facts About Weather Changes -Co,d
 Currents From tho North and V1z.,,
 Ones From the sOuth-Efects of bfag.
 netic Force.
 March impresses itself upon the dwell CT in the northern half of the United States as particularly windy and dis agreeable month, with strong alterna- tlons of @intry and mild weather This IS due to the breaking up of the condi- tlons that have prevailed since Decem- Der and the processes of return to spring and summer. There is in the arctic zone an enormous amount of cold material to be disposed of, covering khe northern regions ln the form of ice and snow. At the same time the southern zone is be- coming decidedly warmer in coDse- quence of the advance of the sun to the 1 northern side of the equator.
 The United States is peculiarly tbe theater of this contest between the giants of cold and heat, and they stag ger back and forth over this territory as one or the other is for the time being in the strongest form. The cold waves launch themselves from the north and carry their icy chill to the warm south ern states; or, on the other hand, the warm currents of air from the south ad- vance far into the north, and this alter nation causes a rapid variation in the temperature and the other weather con ditions at stations of the middle lati- tudes.
 An examination of the storm tracks for March gives very definite evidence of the effect of this struggle for suprem- acy. Instead of being confined to the neighborhood of the mean tracks, it is found that they spread out over the en- tire territory of the United States from north so south. The phenomenon of looping southward along the Rocky mountain slope before recurving north eastward to the gulf of St. Lawrence is most pronounced
 The storms which first develop in Al berta or on the north Pacific coast may advance directly eastward over the lakes to the gulf, or they may be pushed south and recurye in Colorado Missouri south ern Illinois or southern Indiana, in or der to move to the St. Lawrence val ley, or else they may be propelled still farther south along the Rocky mountain slope to Texas and the gulf coast, whence they proceed to the south Atlantic coast, and then turn northward to Newfound- land. Not few of these storms dissi- pate in tho lake region or the Ohio val ley; others will persist i'll a path of nearly 5000 miles, from Alberta to southern Texas, South Carolina and finally to Newfoundland. The unequal distribution of the tracks of the storms in March is therefore due to the irregu- lar propulsion of cold masses of air from the arctic regions into the middle of the North American continent.
 A peculiarity of continental action is that in summer the interior is warmer than the borders but in winter the in- terior is colder than the coasts. The up- per lake region and the upper Mississip- pi valley are especially remarkable for this feature. Between the 95 degree and 100 degree meridians, and between par allels 50 degrees to 50 degrees, tho change in temperature is the greatest known ill North America; 1t is eoldest in winter there, and also it may become the hottest part of the country ill sum mer the range of temperature may be from 45 degrees below zero in winter to 105 degrees above zero i'll summon, q range of 150 degrees. The encroach- ments of spring upon the winter ill North Amorica proceed from tho OK trene southwest, the gulf of California and the Colorado river valley, and ad vance toward the northeast.
 This leads to description of one of the most characteristic features of the l advance of the summer upon the North 1 American continent. h winter tho lines of equal normal temperature, that is the isotherms, are grouped about the cold pole i'll quite a symmetrical man. ner, bonding southward in the interior as they pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. This configuration may be regarded as normal from November to March inclusive. In the summer the formation is somewhat inverted, the lines bending northward from the coasts | toward the interior, though the crest is now farther west in the dry Rocky | mountain region. The gulf of Califor mia is tho central region of heat, and | the crest extends from Yuma, A. T., northeastward toward the Dakotas
 The magnetic force seems to be eff oient in producing meteorological effects in proportion as it can operate ill cold atmospheric conditions. Hence the en- croachment of warm air from the south ern Rocky mountain districts, as spring comes on, is unfayorable for this kind | of action, and it seeks to transfer its seat to the portions of the interior of the continent that still retain low tenn peratures, namely, to the Hudson bay districts Finally, as the summer heat conauers this cold territory, the winter high passes away entirely, and the u.yhole arctic region is covered by low spressures.
 The unsettled weather of the month ef March, especially in the northeastern portions of the United States, with its