The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-03-11
NEN ENGLAND WEATHER.
ALL STORMS STEER FOR THIS
 SECTION.

DiffieuIt-Aftempts to Find storm
 CyeIes-The Moon and the Weather
 All Phenomena of storms Controlled
 by Natural Laws.
 New England is proverbially noted for it's weather. It is certain that it can produce as great a variety of that article as any other section of the Uni ted States and probably of the world. It does not matter where q storm orig mates, in the British northwest, Colo rado, Texas, Gulf of Mexico or the West Indies, it is certain to immedi- ately start on course that will ulti- nately take it over or near to New England. About seventy-five such storms and as many more ill-defined storm areas or disturbances, pass over New England every year. With so many storms and disturbances it is not strange that there is almost always something doing in the weather line.
 It is not often that one brand of weather prevails long enough to be come monotonous. These storms are charted daily on the weather map and are watched with great interest by many people as they pass across the country.
 The question is often asked how long in advance can these storms be fore told. If the storms all originated in one place at regular intervals of time and followed the same path there would be no trouble in forecasting the weather for long periods in advance; but since they originate in several places from different causes, at une- qua1 intervals of time and do not tray el the same course, it naturally follows that it is a very difficult problem to tell for many days in advance just what the weather is going to be. In using the weather may the time is linn ited to. three or four days.
 Many attempts have been made to find cycle for these storms so that they could be forecasted for months or even years in advance. The cycles that have been suggested vary from three days to many years. Probably the ones most frequently used have been for seven, twenty-six and fifty three days; but no cycle has yet been found that was very satisfactory.
 There are so many storms passing that dates selected from cycle are of ten verified, but any dates selected without any reference to cycle are quite as frequently verified. In most parts of New England rain or snow falls on about one hundred and fifty days in a year or nearly one.half of them, and it is very rare to have a week pass without any bad weather. So that in making forecast for two or three days, and then allowing one day at each end of the period, it is pretty certain to win. For instance, if any one should say that it would rain between July 21th and the 29th, he would stand, judging from the records of the past thirty years, a chance of ten to one of winning; but any three days selected at random would answer nearly as well as those just given. To state what the weather will be on sev- eral days in succession is a, much more difficult task and cannot be done by guessing.
 Many have thought that they could tell what the weather was going to be by looking at the moon. The moon changes once a week, and as the weath7 CT in New England has two or three changes in the same time, it is very natural that there should be many CO., incidences, but the real effort of the moon on the weather, if any, remains to be discovered. Nature does not re- veal her secrets to the one who is sim- ply making a guess, but to the one who is earnestly and diligently seeking af- ter truth. There are many secrets in the mechanism of the storm yet to be revealed. Not until we are able to know more of the long journey taken by the vapor from the time it is evap> orated at the surface of the ocean un- til it falls as a tiny drop of water on the parched land perhaps thousand miles from where it started, shall we be able to forecast the weather for weeks and months in advance.
 There are so many changes in the weather and they seem to come in such a hap-hazard sort of way, that many people think that they do not obey the fixed laws of nature, but such is not the case. Not single phenomenon connected with the weather but what is controlled as absolutely by these laws as are the stars in the heavens. It is true that there are many laws that are not understood at the present time, but they are being diligently sought after by many able men con nected with the weather bureau, the universities and colleges of the coun try and private individuals Every en- couragement should be given to the one who is seeking to solve the pro blems connected with the weather, for their solution would be one of the greatest benefits that could come to mankind. On the other hand the man who pretends to have some way of tell- ing what the weather is going to be, and is simply taking chance that some of the many changes that occur will verify his forecast, is doing noth- ing towards solving the problem and he cannot be too severely condemned. It is safe to state that no one at the present time can make forecast of the weather for q long period in ad vance based upon physical laws as dnpSfnn1 T l,stro