New-York tribune., 1903-06-28
CURIOUS WEATHER PHENOMENON.
A. J. De Voc Tells of Peculiar Snowstorms
and Explains Recent Conditions.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Recently number of articles have appeared
unusually cold weather should hang over our At
lanti0 coast long; but their explanations are
couched in such guarded language that none but
a lawyer could interpret them l believe that the
laws which control weather so simple
and beautifully constructed that a little child
understand and take pleasure in studying
them, when they properly explained. 1t would
be impossible for to make them plain in q
newspaper article but there is just one point
which I viii try to illustrate regarding snow.
which is of particular interest Just now. as we
having snow in New-Jersey this June. About
twenty years ago I had the pleasure of listening
to Lieutenant Schwatka lecture before the Farm
ers' Club at Cooper Union. shortly after his re-
turn from the Arctic regions. He stated that the
most interesting snowstorIn he ever beheld oc-
Cured only five .eet above ground: his head
was in mild sunshine. while a snowstorm ragged
his feet. The audience thought he was Joking
and laughed but he insisted that he was telling
the candid truth, and believed him l have long
wished that I might meet some other man VINO
could corroborats his statement
Last month had the pleasure Of finding the
who gave the desired information He IS
foreman of large machine shop in Paterson
n. ]. Fifteen years ago he mad charge OF q
cattle ranch out in Montana and. knowing that
1 was interested in the weather. he told me what
he had seen. He spoke follows: THE most
singular snowstorn which l occurred IN
FEBRUARY l6S9- w Een we got Up III IilS 44i45
it showing hard. Our house and barn stood
in the valley, and about 10 o'clock told the inen
that 1 would take a walk and see if any OF the
cattle had strayed off. AS l walked UP the hill
the storm lightened, and when I reached an eIeva-
ton of about twenty feet I found the sky clear
and the sun shining brightly. yet that snow
continued in the valley all day Can you
explain that?'
/ very glad to have Lieutenant Schwatka 4
statement confirmed, because it was in harmony
with natural law. For when such snowstornls
occur there must be warm current or stratum OK
moist air descending toward the earth And as
the fine particles of moisture descend faster than
the body of air, they are instantly coEgeaIed
into snow, without clouds. have long coEtended
that both warm and cold waves are created or
have their origin miles above the EARTH and de-
scend The earth is great ship sailing around
the sun, and il runs through storm belts. These
storm belts about five hundred miles wide ana
five thousand miles long. On the northwest slde
there is snow both winter and summer, while on
the southeast side there always thunderStoLIIls
These storm belts do not always hang over tne
earth in the position, but they are controlleQ
by astronomical coalitions. II could secure GER
ia in astronomical data I could map cut the posi-
ton which the storm belts would occupy ten years
in advance. -
The reason that our present dark, wet weather
continues so long due the fact that the earth
is travelling in the direction that the STORM
belts extend-northeast and southwest AZ the
present time there is a hot wave over the loWer
Mississippi Valley. and the Weather Bureau fond
" hopes that 1t Will come this way But It VIII
be Of short duration. We must turn our eyes 10
Canada: and wher hot wave appears up there,
then you can lay aside your overc2ats ana ges OUT
a. J. DE NOE, Meteoroloslst-
Hackensack. n. j., June Is, 1903