Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-12
Are the Winters Warmer Than Thew
Used to Be?
Was THERE MORE SNOW YEARS AGO?
Things Observed Now and Then
by the "Oldest Inhabitant."
MANY SOURCES OF ERROR

A correspondent in Mortified, Mass, de-
sires orr opinion on the question: Were
the winters of fifty or sevcnty-five years
ago much colder, or were the snowfalls
deeper than at present? The opinion Is
widely held that the winters were colder
and the snowfalls deeper. but 1 find
nothing to warrant the belief except that
In the first part of the century a much
larger percentage of the population lived in
the hill towns in the interior. which are
both colder than the valley or the coast
towns"
On the general question as to appreciate
changes in climate the editors opinion is
that there has been no such change in any
respect whatever so far as meteorology
proper is concerned. If we divide our rec
ords of the weather recorded in North
America since the days of Columbus into
two periods, namely, before and after the
year 1900. we shall find that every peculiar
ity. such remarkable storms, winds, rains,
floods. frosts, etc, recorded in the current
century can be matched by corresponding
remarkable event before the year 1900. The
popular Impressions alluded to by our cor
respondent result almost entirely from the
imperfections of our records and especially
of our memories. There is large class of
persons whose habits Of thought are so
crude that when they experience any very
remarkable weather they jump to the con-
clusion that the climate has changed. for
getting that they themselves have had such
a limited personal experience that they are
not fair judges of the weather over the
whole couatry of tine climate OF CEN
tury.
Weather Traditions.
Our correspondent seems to suggest that
a certain change in the habits Of the peo-
pie such as the removal from the interior
to the coast or from forest to prairies. or
from country to city. or vice versa, will
partly account for widespread errors in re-
spect to climate. The suggestion is excel
lent. but the editor would be inclined to in
terpfet The phenomenon somewhat diner
emily. The general movement of the popu-
lation in the past century has been from
the Atlantic states westward. and from the
country TO the city. or quite opposite to
the movement suggested by our correspon-
dent. In fact We find no real agreement in
the so-called popular traditions with
gard to the weather. We have met with
quite as many persons who think the win
tiers are more severe as with those who
think the winters less severe than for
merry Everything seems to depend upon
how and where the oldest inhabtant'
lived when he boy compared with
his present condition. If he moved from a
farm on windy hilltop in the country
down TO a coy house in the village, the
climate seemed TO him to have improved.
If he moved from the milder climates on
the coast in his youth to the severer eli
mates in the interior he was as boy,
struck with the great change. and the i'm
preston still remains with him that those
winters were seveIer than now. If he has
lived continuously III large city like New
York, where the growth of tall houses, the
Increased smoke, and diminished sunshine
have completely changed the climate. ana
where these combined with the changes in
the mode of living, espe6 tally the abolition
of the open wood fire. have rendered the
human system vastly more sensitive he
finds that the Inequalities of climate are
greater than formerly.
Little Real Change.
From a hygienic point of view. 1.-The eli
mate" includes everything that affects the
health and comfort of the body. The me-
theological climate that agrees perfectly
with one person may be entirely too Sc
we're for another. Our remembrance of our
physical sensations is not a safe criterion
when judging of climate Our remem-
FRANCE of an occasional storm or winter
Is not a safe guide in comparing the past
with the present Our records of deep
SHOWS are too fragmentary to give any
thing more TIL IN a general conviction that
there has been no material change in the
snowfall Our records of extreme low tenn
peratures are liable to be in error several
degrees by the ancient of very Imper-
1ect Thermometers. and are almost certain
TO be exaggerated if the thermometers
were placed In valleys or lowlands where
cold air settles on still, clear nights, so that
We must use great caution in interpreting
these records; difference of FIVE ten and
the minimum temperatures recorded by
weather bureau and voluntary observers
located within a few miles of each owing
TO the combination of these two sources of
error
Remarkable rains and SHOWS are usually
quite local phenomena; there have been
several remarkable cases of this nature in
certain portions of New England and the
middle Atlantic states within the past ten
years Similar remarkable cases occurred
In others portions of these states fifty years
ago and equally remarkable cases occurred
IN still other portions just before 1900. If
there has been any change in the climate
or Nortnfield. Mass. 1t is because 1t lay
within some of these regions of extraor-
dlhary rain or snow on one occasion and
not on another. Such change of climate
at one spot is no criterion by which To judge
Of changes at other places 100 miles away
The average climate of New England SO
far as the weather Is concerned has not
appreciably changed since the days when
her Oldest forest trees were young sap
LEGS. and that carries us back nearly five
hundred years.