Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-30
STUDYING
THE SNOW

ClEationS 10 the rev months during which
the earth will be covered with garments
of white. To such people the possioiii-
ties of a mild winter offers little compen-
sation for the delights tina they have
cost and they will watch with interest
the present investigation of the meteor-
Oio2lcal experts who are doing their ut
most to discover If it is, or is not afact,
that the climatic conditions of the world
are undergoing Il complete change.
In order to decide this question a care
ful study of the matter is being made
by the government officials and when ell
the facts obtainable have been gathered
together it is possible that they ma be
able to furnish the world with some fur
ther information upon this much noted
subject.
A problem of this kind, however. il Of
much more Importance to mankind than
might at first be imagined since it in
wolves a possible reimbursement of pres
ent economic conditions. Some years
ago it was thought that the climate Of
the world was actually undergoing a
change. Then came the years that were
marked for the frequency and severity of
their cold waves until, at last, the scien-
fists did not know what to think. 1t
has been the consensus of opinion. how
ever. that there are no great variations
IN the climate, especially in this country.
The mean temperature obtained by the
most careful instrumental observations
snow no differences that are greater than
might be due to natural environments.
In fact. the result of the observations
up to this time have shown that the
yearly means for a single station do not |
indicate a steady increase in heat. uul- |
minating in a period of high temporal |
towards a period of diminished heat. but
rather an irregularity in the distribution |
of warm and cold years that suggests !
that there is an absence of any system |
or compensation or any gradual progress |
sion from one extreme to the other.
For more than fifty years scientists |
nave been studying the weather in the |
hope that they might be able to discover |
this secret Of nature. Up to the present |
time they have succeeded in obtaining |
data from every part of the earth. and |
THIS, while it is interesting, has not yet I
yielded results Of any practical import /
altce. OF course it is quite possible that !
the government experts may now be sue |
cesatul where others have failed but it is !
to be hoped that if this is the case they |
will discover that it will be many a long !
year before the snow shall have disap- !
peared from the North American conti- !
nent. !
Outside Of the pleasure it affords to
thousands of the young people of the
country there is no more interesting |
study in nature than the snow itself. OF
course everyone knows that these white
flakes take the place Of rain that would |
have fallen if the temperature had not
heen so low that it froze the condensed |
moisture in the atmosphere. Such. in
brief, is the technical history of the snow
flake. but to the observer it tells a story
of far more interest. Every flake, for
instance, is a perfect crystal. Sometimes |
it is a six-pointed star, sometimes a hex |
asonal plate, but always it assumes the
greatest variety of beautiful forms, more !
than one thousand different varieties hay |
ing already been observed.
scDraSDy, who WAS one of the most
critical students of the snow flake, has
classified these feather-like substances
into five principal varieties: sd thin
plates, corlpr. sing several hundred forms
of the most exquisite beauty: t2) a nu-
clvus Or plan figure. studded with needle
shaped crystals; t3) six-sided, or m1re
rarely. three-sided crystals; ca pyra-
mids of six side, and, 90 prislnatic cry<-
tails having at the ends and middle thin
plates perpendicular to their length"
While such a description of the char
acteristics of the snow flake is interest
ing as showing how deeply science has
gone into the study of nature it does not
in any sense suggest an idea of the in
calculable beauty of this phtnoEnena of
winter. Sometimes many kinds of
d1al>es fall during a single storm but usu-
ally they are of one variety, varying in
size from 0.07 inch to one inch in diam
eter. This variation in size is entirely
due to the temperature. The smallest
flakes occur when the temperature is
lowest. The largest fall when the tenn
perature is about 81 degrees. If it is a
little higher the snow is partially melted
as it falls and reaches the earth as sleet.
Those who have studied the compost
ton and beauties of the snow never tire
of dilating upon it's attractiveness OF
color. The fact that snow is almost in
variably pure white is the result of the
combination Of the different prisnatic
ray issuing from the minute crystals.
Illustrations analogous of the prismatic
colors blending together and forming the
white light out of which they We're origi-
glass or foam. This whiteness of color
is also intensified by the amount of air
contained in these crystals.
While the density of snow is far from
uniform it is usually much lighter than
water, varying from s to 16 times lighter
chan the liquid substance. From the
loose texture and the fact that it con-
tains about ten times its bulk of air it
is Il very bad conductor of heat and is,
therefore,. an admirable covering for the
earth. 1t not infrequently happens in
times of great cold. that the soil is forty
degrees warmer than the surface of over
lying snow.
Miners in the gold fields of Alaska ~
insisted that snow in that country was
often reddish in color. Cusually this APP
peatancc is only apparent from a distance
and it IS then caused by a peculiar effect
of light. Tha red SNOW actually falls,
however, there can be no doubt. Not
only nave the men in ALASKA Witnessed
i'll but IT was even mentioned by some of
the most ancient authorities. Aristotle,
for instance, Speaking Of the phenomenon
in one OF his works.
In 11G0, Saussure discovered snow OF
similar color in the Alps and from the ex-
aminations that he made he decided tina
the strange tint was caused by the pres
ence Of some vegetable substance, prob
ably the pollen Of a plant.
The next scientific examination of red
crnn. Mas MAJ de hN Eanlain Rncc u,ho