The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-10-03
THE ~EQUINOCTIAL
WEATHER SCIENTISTS DIS
CUSS STORMS.
Maintain That Hurricanes Are Not
Generated by the Equinox. Despite
Popular Belief.

There is not a day in the year when the
weather fails to be a subject of popular
conversation. Everybody. from the laborer
to the multi-millionaire, and from the
washerwoman to the fine lady of fashion,
Is interested in the weather.
1t is a theme of extreme Importance to
the agriculturist, the man who plows the
land, to the mariner, the man who plows
the sea, and it concerns the business and
pleasure Of the entire population of our
globe. The weather forecast service con-
Quoted by the United States Government
costs about one million five hundred thou
sand dollars a year, but in return its warn
ings are said to save thirty million dol
lars in value of property annually.
AS the present is about the time of the
equinox, when the sun in It's
southwark path, after having Illuminated
the North Pole of the earth for six months,
crosses the equator to shine for about six
months on the South Pole, at this period
there Is common belief hat goes back far
into the past that the equinoctial periods,
for the vernal equinox, when the sun In Its
northward course crosses the equator,
about March 21 OF %, is the other, are spe-
ciaily stormy seasons, so that the term
"~equinoctial storm has come up from
ancient tradition.
The weather scientists hold that the
equinox has nothing whatever to do with
the generating Of hurricanes. According
to the doctrine held by the scientists in
the promises, "the sun Is the prime cause
of every change of weather. The sun de-
termines whether the earth shall be hot
or cold. lust as our hands turn on or off
the register. Absence of suns rays makes
the North Pole a continent of ice; plenty
Of suns rays makes the equator a urnace.
The suns rays, by heating one land more
than another, cause winds, hurricanes and
cyclones. The heat in the sun is so ter
r1ble that our Iron ores, gold, silver, cop
per and diamonds exist as gases there.
The rays of this heat travel at the rate
Of eleven million six hundred Thousand
miles a minute and reach us In eight min
utes. Such speed is in~eonceivable. The
swiftest cannon ball is motionless COM
pared with such rapidlty Of motion. There
are storms on the sun compared with
which u Galveston hurricanes and Mont
Pelee eruptions are like the breathing of
an infant. Are the storms periodic? Do
they follow some sequence, some law?
"The sun is much brighter and hotter
at certain periods than 1t is at others.
According to Professor S. p. Langley, dur
ing 1904 there was a notable decrease in
the amount Of heat received from the sun
The same report came from italy. Why
the sun was so stingy we do not know;
whether its generosity is periodic or Incl
dental Is a riddle to us. IF we did under
stand its moody and their reaction upon
us we could predict the weather for a sea-
son in advance. Now, the sun is the ere
ator of all life, of all force and motion on
the earth except the tides. Every act of
1t Is so orderly and systematic that we
must believe that the processes going on
within 1t are also systematic; that the
changes we think we see in 1t follow each
other in regular succession. as our spring
follows winter, but probably at much
longer intervals. Solve the order of the
changes on the sun and we can predict the
character of the seasons"
There is nothing in this statement which
was recently printed in the Century Maya
zine, doubtless with the approval of the
official weather authorities, 20 contradict
the notion that the equinoctiai periods may
DE seasons of storms. When note is taken
OF the fact that the sun shines for about
half the year on one pole of the earth, and
at a certain season ceases to do so, while
1t transfers its light and heat to the other
pole, 1t should not seem strange II some
disturbance to the weather should follow.
not upon a particular date, but within the
course of a few days. or even weeks, of
the change of conditions.
There is little question tina within the
lapse of centuries, since men have been
observing the changes of the seasons and
the variations of the meteorological con
ditions that are commonly known as
weather. 1t has been noted that the spring
and autumnal e%quinoctial periods, when
for some little time the days and nights
are equal and one pole of the earth ceases
to enjoy the heat and light of the sun,
which has transferred its bounty to the
other extremity Of our globe, have more
or less nearly conceded with atmospheric
disturbances.
or course, science must lave exact in
formation of events and conditions before
they can be accepted as facts, but, never
theless. science is forced to do a great
deal of ~generalizing and guessing, and it
cannot wisely denounce and reject all
that has not been proved. ever If they be
OF the nature of "auld wives tales when
the field of research has been little ex-
ploded. Weather science has accomplished
a great deal, but of a vast part of the
mysteries of the weather little is known.