The record-union., 1899-09-20
SLOW WINDS MAKE US WARM
WHY PEOPLE SUFFER FROM
THE PRESENT HEAT.
Interesting Facts Concerning Sac
ramento's Weather and
Air Currents.

Few people know much about the
weather, as will be found when one
inquiries why he feels warm one day
and cool another, and this when the
readings of the thermometer are really
about the same
The weather this summer, and espe-
cially this month, shows a fine object
lesson illustrative of the point in ques-
ton. There has been a universal COM
plant OF the weather for two weeks.
1t has seemed unusually hot, and peo-
pie suffered more at a temperature of
from so to 94 than they usually do in
the midst of summer, when thermom-
eters run beyond a hundred.
There must be too much humidity
in the air. said a well-known citizen
yesterday, as he accosted Weather OBJ
server Barwick as to the cause of the
sticky" feeling which he and others
had found unusually oppressive.
why, if you'd look at the direction
of the wind" replied the Sage of the
Weather Bureau, you'd soon see that
the air cannot be very moist with a
north wind That wind is dry"
"Then it's unusually hot" replied the
amateur.
'Weu, there is something in that,
said the Weather Bureau expert, "but
! there is still another cause which most
people have overlooked. We feel this
heat more than We often feel far higher
temperatures"
| The cause meant was that there is
| little velocity of the wind these days.
A Record Union" man found that the
wind gauges were almost stationary
Whereas a current of from six to ten
miles an hour is usual and agreeable,
there was barely a movement of two
miles an hour all day yesterday, and as
a result the evaporation was hardly ap-
preciable. With greater velocity the dry
air would soon absorb the perspira-
! ton, and there would be more COM
| fort. 1t is a we'll understood fact
that the evaporation of moisture cools
the air and leaves a dry feeling as
we'll. Even with the increase of tenn
perature there is not SO much suffering
as now, if the wind is high, or even
moderate. The present calm, however,
| is bad.
| 1t may be expected that for few
days there will be a lull in the winds,
until the sun crosses the equinox. As
| that occurs tomorrow it may be that
there will be a speedy change in the
weather, especially as regards the
movement of air currents.
But this September has to date run
higher than the normal in heat, and
! lower than the normal in wind veloci-
! ties Following the coolest August in
the history of the State, the result is
that there is unusual suffering and en-
| ervation from the heat and general
climatic conditions.
Il think people are more enervated
now than in the summer" said Mr.
Barwick yesterday, for there is some>
thing about the conditions that is wilt
| ing"
The records show that August was
an average of 6 degrees cooler than
the years that are on record. Even
this does not give any adequate idea
of the GOODNESS of the month, from the
fact that this years average is made
up of a steady coolness day and night,
whereas the average of past years is in
reality the result of figuring a mean
from hot mid-days and cool nights.
In connection with the weather of
Sacramento it is interesting to know
that the ordinary hygrometer for
measuring moisture is useless here.
| These instruments are made of human
hairs treated by boiling in lye. In
their finished condition they show by
stretching and relaxing something of
| the humid conditions of the air, but
| it has been the experience of Opti-
clans Bishopp, Chinn and others that
the hygrometers that are used in other
| climates are valueless here. One local
| dealer exhibits a half-dozen once val
liable instruments that are now worth
! less. The weather for the most of the
| year is so dry here that the instru-
ments stretch and break.
| As a result of the fatality to such
/ schemes of measuring the moisture the
I Government as we'll as private OBJ
| servers, uses the wet and dry bulb
method of measuring the moisture in
the air. BY this method the difference
! between the readings of the wet and
! dry bulb thermometers is interpreted
with reference to tables showing abso-
lutte and relative humidity, and the re-
suit is accurate.
! 1t is a. fact not generally known that
there is more absolute moisture in the
/ air in Sacramento in the summer than
| in winter. but as the heat is much
! greater the capacity of the air to hold
moisture is largely increased; so the
relative humidity, that is, the moisture
with reference to the amount the air
/ can hold, is smaller than in the winter
months, when the cooler air cannot
hold so much without precipitation.
Hence the summers really seem quite
| dry.
POLICE STATION ECHOES.