Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-11
An Increase Of a Degree Over the
High Record Yesterday.
N0RTHERLY WINDS TO GIVE RELIEF
Sunday VIII Probably See the
Mercury Less Ambitious.



brand-new copper pan when it rose this
morning, and the cloudless sky from zenith
to horizon took on a tinge of the same sort.
1t was plainly evident 20 early risers that
the commanding orb of this planetary sys-
tenn was going to make extra exertions to
surpass its work yesterday, and it wasn't
long before 1t was proving to its own sat
isfaction that its efforts were being re-
warded
Yesterday morning at 10 o'clock the
weather bureau thermometer marked 81
degrees. At the same hour this morning
the mercury was level with the Sc mark,
which is high enough to start the perspira-
ton in streams from the human form d.
vine, and sufficiently elevated, conscience
knows, for the quicksilver to reach in any
respectable community at any hour on any
summer day.
The Main Topic.
The effects of the continued heat, which
had already enervated man and beast and
injured vegetation beyond computation,
were even more visible the day wore on.
Shoppers and marketgoers hurried through
their duties in the before noon hours to
seek the relief of limited neglige in close
suffered rooms at home. The rapid transit
cars were unusually we'll patronized, and
front seats, where the air currents are
strongest. were at premium. Fast driv-
ers held their horses down to a slow gait
and delivery wagons went at walk.
Crowds visited . the railroad offices and
strove with each other to secure excursion
tickets to shore and mountains, and
frightened mothers hung over painting
babies and prayed for anything to bring
their darlings relief. Everywhere the
tremendous heat was the theme of remark,
and an abundance of vehement vitupera-
roll of
attire observable. Shirt collars and cuffs
assumed the consistency of dishrags; negli-
ses on men and women alike looked like
their Wearers had dived into the Potomac
but no one cared for appearances
The only thing the population was anx-
lous about was to find some place that was
a little bir less hot than another. AS fer
a cool place, the only spots where such ex-
isted were in refrigeratOrs and Zee wa
gems. Even cellars were hot and the cor
ridors of tho massive public buildings I'M
comfortable. Manual or outdoor labor
was stopped by or before noon wherever It
was possible. In a word, the national cap
ftal was PROSTATE before the heat.
The thermometers in the shade at many
downtown places in the city marked over
30 at 10 o'clock, and a tube put in tho sun
at twenty minutes past that hour the
sill of one of the street windows of the
New York Herald bureau at 18th and G
streets went up in five minutes to ZIG. AT
1875 the mercury stood at 126. AS the
a valuable instrument. it was taken in, for
fear the mercury would break through the
top Of the glass If left longer exposed.
A Ray of Hope Held Out.
The Star reporter. who was witness of
this observation. decided that the only
possible place in the world where any
lief. either present or remote. for his
troubled mental condition could be obtained
would be at the weather bureau. and IL
o'clock found him in the forecast room Of
that institution. Chief Williams didn't wait
for the visitor to speak. The latter's mute
and appealing inquiry was too plainly ap-
parent
There is probability of break in the
intense heat We are now having" said the
chief. and we will announce this in a
special bulletin that will be issued after
while. Northerly winds are expected and
they will bring relief They may not reach
here before the usual hour today, when the
heat Is greatest, but 1t Is pretty certain
that tomorrow will be more bearable. You
must not understand that we are going to
promise "A cold wave. but the chances are
that life will be easier by a good deal for
people i'll this neighborhood."
Comparisons With Other Cities.
AT 8 o'clock this morning Washington
was the hottest place in the country by
four degrees. The thermometers of the
weather bureau, at Key West, Fla, mark
so. These were the only ~ spots in the
Union. The coolest place at that hour was
out on the Rocky mountain slope at the
town of Havre Mon, where the ther-
mometer marked IS degrees. At Atlantic
City this morning at o'clock the Their
mometer was 76. 1t reached 81 there yes
terday, with minimum Of = during the
twenty-four hours.
Review of the Heated Term.
The special bulletin was sent out at noon
today by Chief of The Bureau Willis l..
Moore. 1t is as follows:
Beginning with Thursday, September 2,
protracted heated term began on the
eastern Rocky mountain slope and gradu-
ally extended over the whole country to the
Atlantic coast.
THE highest previous records during the
first decade of September were equaled or
exceeded at Bismarck, Dcs Moines, Kansas
City, Marquette, Green Bay Sault Ste.
Marie. Alpena, Nantucke. and Portland,
Me. AT Bismarck the highest previous rec
ord was W degrees. put the I'd and Sth
1t reached 100 degrees, and on the 7th 102
degrees.
During the most of this period an area
of low pressure was nearly stationary over
Montana or North Dakota, and from the
Itn to the 10th the pressure was high over
the South Atlantic STATES. For most of the
time the lower air was extremely dry dur
relative humidities at = am. and = pm,
respectively, were observed at Washington,
viz: On the 9th, 80 per cent, 80 per cent;
9TH, 81 per cent, Al per cent; 9Th, 33 per
cent, 43 per cent; 9th, "a per cent, A per
cent; 10th, 81 per cent, 36 per cent. The
combination of these conditions, was suffi-
cient to cause intense insulation, and the
protracted heat of the lower atmosphere.
1.-The intense heat was confined to the re-
gion between the Rocky mountains and the
Mississippi river from the I'd to the 9Th,
and beginning with the It'll it had moved
eastward to the region between the lakes
and the Gulf of Mexico. but did not reach
New England till the 9th.
1.-The highest temperatures at Washing
ten were: September 7. 81 degrees; sth, 80
degrees: 9th, % degrees; 10th. 90 degrees,
and the last was three degrees higher than
the highest previous record June 3d. 90 de-
grees) for the summer of 1897.
ION the morning of the Sth the low area
in North Dakota had begun moving east,
and was followed by high area from the
north Pacific. Temperature falls of IL and
10 degrees were reported from Winnemucca
and Salt Lake City, respectively. On the
evening Of the Sth the falls in Temperature
were Is and 30 degrees, at Havre and Will
liston. On the evening of the 9TH the cool