The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-02-24


bring rain. Hence the rain falls after
the centre of the storm has passed, in
stead Of coming in advance of it.
The rain has seasons, as temperature
has, and while in most parts of the
country the hot season is the dry one
and the cold season the rainy one. in
the Rocky Mountains things are re-
versed-the rainy season comes in the
summer. To understand all this we
must go back little.
1t was stated above that as we go up
ward and as we 60 northward the air
becomes colder This is true in gem
eral, but in certain cases the rule is re-
yersed.
In the summer both land and sea re-
ceive heat from the sun and accumu-
late it. The sea is constantly in mo
tion, and its waves and currents dis
perse the heat, carrying it from the
equatorial regions toward the poles
and so tend to equalize the tempera-
ture of the water. That about the
equator is not greatly warmer than
that farther north and south.
But with the land there is no way OF
thus equallzing temperature. The land
in the summer becomes greatly heated
and in the winter greatly cooled
Hence, in the summer, the land is
warmer than the sea in the same lati-
tude and in the winter cooler.
Indeed, lands situated north Of the
sea for long distances, and lands which
are far above the sea, may be warmer
in the summer than the sea, and hence
cannot condense moisture from satur-
ated air.
ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
1t is because the temperatures over
the Eastern States are in summer often
warmer than those over the Gulf and
the Atlantic that it rails less frequently
there at that season than in winter,
when the temperature conditions are
reversed.
On the Pacific coast these conditions
are similar, but there is a much greater
difference in the amount of rain in
summer and winter. In fact, instead
of calling the seasons summer and win
ter, the people speak of them as the
dry and wet seasons. In the summer
it hardly ever rains; but in Western
Washington and Oregon it rains nearly
all the winter, while southwark the
amount of winter rain diminishes with
the latitude. The father south, the less
is the rainfall
The temperature Of the Pacific Ocean,
on this coast, is almost uniform every
where and at all times of the year, and
the saturated air currents which come
off it are also uniform in temperature.
In the winter these currents encounter
a cold land, colder because it is high,
for the Pacific coast is bordered by
mountains.
1t is, Of course, colder in the north
than in the south, and correspondingly
the rainfall is heavier.
The air currents are therefore almost
completely drained of their moisture
by the time they have passed the sum
mits of the Cascades and Sierra, and
blow thence eastward as dry winds
In the summer, on the other hand,
the land, excepting the highest noun
tains, is warmer than the air currents,
and they pass over it without losing
moisture.
Now let us follow these air currents
eastward, and see what happens to
them. In the north they lose a little
moisture on the Coast Range, a little
more on the Cascades and Sierra. and
those which cross south of the Sierra
lose none at all.
Altogether, the eastbound winds of
summer from the Pacific enter the
Rocky Mountain region as moist winds.
There they encounter an almost endless
succession of high ranges and valleys.
One after another these ranges draw
from the atmosphere a little moisture,
mostly in the form of showers.
OF all these mountain ranges, those
of Colorado, being the highest, get
the most moisture. Hence this is the
rainy season of the Rocky Mountains
1t rains simply because, at this season
only, the air currents are able to bring
their moisture over the mountain bar
riers to the westward.
If there were no mountains OF the
Coast Range, Cascad, S or Sierra, there
would be no desert IN our country
Youths Companion.