The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-10-14
HEAT OF Sun SPOTS.
SCIENTISTS LOOK FOR LAW OF
WEATHER CHANGES.
May Re Able to Forecast Weather for
Long Periods by Study of suns Surface
Connection OF Solar and Terrestrial
hIeteorology.

A little over year ago Camille
Flammarion, the famous French
scientist, observed the great sun spots,
including the one discovered by Able
Mareux and predicted that the earth
was about to enter upon a period of
five years, the summers of which
would be the hottest in it's history. He
was laughed at by scientists, but he
held to his prediction, Everyone will
remember the intense heat OF last sum
mer, No one is likely to forget the
sWeltering days of July of this year
for long time to come. Camille
Flammarion biGsS fair to make good
his prophecy. Yet even now, meteor
ologists and astronomers refuse to be-
Leve that he has established any di-
rect connection between terrestrial
weather and spots on the sun. Such
a connection has for long time been
suspected, but nothing definite in the
way of law has been discovered.
That we shall soon be in a position to
forecast the seasons by means of
study OF the chemical or physical con-
dltion of the sun seems likely. The
sun far from being a great star of I'M
varying physical characteristics, varies
very materially and is very much hot
ter and brighter at certain periods
than it is at others. It's probable TEN
perature at it's normal state is about
lz,632 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1000
hut
year by year is not even, so that in
certain years the earth receives much
more heat than it does at others, and
IN consequence important meteorologic
changes are set up, the precise nature
OF which science seems to be Just on
the edge of unraveling. For instance,
the great British astronomer Sir Nor
man Lockyer, has just announced his
conclusion that the seasonal rainfall
and great heats in India follow certain
changes in the sun and that the fam
Ines of India, which bring such un-
speakable misery and woe to the 'teem-
ing millions of this unfortunate coun-
try, can be forecast from known solar
changes. But as the weather of India
Is not an isolated phenomena, but is
tnterlocked with that of Africa and
this in turn with that of the western
hemisphere, a weather cycle in one
country is unquestionably duplicated
in others At present however, no one
has worked out the data for the north
temperature zone sufficiently to dis
cover what this cyclical change in our
weather is that follows the variation
of the physical state of the sun. Sir
Norman, however, believes we shall
get at the law of change before long
and will be able to forecast weather
over long periods by a study of the
suns surface. For instance. a huge
sun spot was observed in the sun re-
Gently which was of such magnitude
as to cause much surprise among as
tronomers, since the sun is now at a
period when the sun spots are the least
frequent. Conditions are, however.
shaping themselves for a period of nu-
merous sun spots in 1904, of which the
huge spot observed this spring is a
forerunner. Sir Norman Lockyer
points out that the greater disturbance
of certain zones of solar latitude is
more influential than the amount of
spotted area determined from spots in
various ATTITUDES. "Sun spots" he
said recently, may be only millionths
of the area, but these prominences
form one-sixth Of the suns visible
hemisphere, and with these in a state
of disturbance the effects upon the
earth are very important. The sun
spots themselves are only very feeble
indication of the fierce activity of the
sun. We are observing those promi-
nences more carefully" he went on,
than we have been able to do in the
past. We are taking advantage of new
methods of observation, and in a few
years we shall be in much better po-
sition than we are now to study the
connection of solar and terrestrial me-
teorology."
AS the situation shapes up today the
scientific world is on the look out for
law of causation that connects solar
changes with the great drouths, great
floods and excessive heat waves that
mark our weather at definite periods
And it looks as if some clever observer
would soon wrest the secret from the
sun spots and the vagaries of Ameri-
can summer weather even If none of
the suggested periods seem to be re-
vealed in the actual recorded weather
data.