Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-09-19
WEATHER CLERK EXPLAINS
Cool Summer Was Caused by Lack Of
RadiatiCn-Nhat Prevented Old
Sol from Working.

Weather bureau scientists say that the J
summer just closing has been remarkable
in one respect-that of radiation. There
has beent far less radiation than usual,
particularly in the East Less radiation
means less heat. This summer has not
| been so hot as last summer. There have
| been mighty hot days, but the weather
| bureau goes on the principle that neither
one hot day nor one swallow make a sum-
mer. The observers at Mount Weather, H
in Virginia, have been curious about the
established fact that there has been less
| radiation. They do not yet attempt to
assign a cause for 1t. They simply state
| it as a fact
| BY radiation Is meant the heat that the
earth shoots back into our atmosphere,
after having received 1t from the sun.
| We do not get our hot weather directly |
from the sun; 1t only arrives after the
heat has been reflected upward by the
surface of the earth. Thus. hot waves |
| are built up from the bottom and not |
from the top. Now. the amount of heat |
which the earth receives depends entirely |
upon the condition Of the atmosphere. |
If the atmosphere offers an undue amount
of obstruction to the suns rays. folks on
the earth get less hot weather That is
Just what the atmosphere has been doing
all summer-makng it difficult for light
rays and heat rays to get through to the
surface of the earth, so they can in turn
be radated in the form of hot waves"
heat spells" and other disagreeable
forms Of cookery.
| The atmosphere Is not necessarily
cloudy or obscure when it acts as a screen
enough dust aloft to have an effect upon
solar radiation.
SO this has led the Mount Weather
savants to consider the case of Mount
Katmai, Alaska There is coincidence
which may not prove anything, but 1t Is
regarded as significant. Mount katma
tegan to erupt on June last. Up to that
time it had been regarded as a dead
volcano, and, therefore. n good one. just
as n dead Indian is supposed to be a good
Indian But the difference between
volcano and an Indian is. you never can
tell when the volcano is dead Katmai
began to disprove its supposed quiescence
on June and kept nj the job for couple
of days. 1t did not boil lava, but it
loosed into the air enormous quantities
, af ashes and dust. so that settlements
: within a hundred miles were buried from
one to three feet deep in the outpouring.
and the revenue cutter service had to
render extraordinary assistance to the
stricken people ashore. Congress recog-
nized the activities of Katma by grant
: ing to the revenue cutter service $4,000,
, tC cover it's unusual expenses. but 1t did
: not recognize that Katmai may have done
much to shut off solar radiation for the
summer
THE ERUPTION OF KATMAI MAY
q HAVE HELPED TO MAKE THE
/, SUMMER COOL.
against the rays of the sun. That has
z been one of the pecuiarties of this sum-
/, mer We have had no more cloudy
= weather bureau scientists have not de-
'. all sorts of difficulties in getting his heat
!, rays through our atmosphere. The
v weather bureau scientists have not de-
e termined what has caused this phenome-
l. non, but they have several theories.
3; MOISTURE ROBS SUNS RAYS OF
:. MUCH OF THEIR PERSPIRATION-
!. PRODUCING POWER.
: One is the presence of an unusual
l. amount of moisture In the atmosphere
Moisture acts as an absorbent of sun rays
. and robs them of much of their power
before they reach the earth's surface.
,. 1t may exist in the air when the skies
u are perfectly clear and the sun is shin
" ing brightly 1t is a fact that on per-
fectly clear days this summer not as
g much heat has been reaching the earth
o. as on similar days last year
q" Another theory of the Mount Weather
% scientists is that there has been an I'M
~ usual amount of haze or dust In the
. atmosphere this summer. Dust also acts
- as ray absorbent. What may look like
" an absolutely clear day aloft may In fact
'e be very dutsy day. Dust does not get
~ into our atmosphere from any ordinary
cause, such as the failure of the street
% cleaning departments to be on the Job, or
V the shaking of rugs or the beating of
carpets 1t takes a big cause to shoot
p On June 10, four days after Katmai
II became "Bull Moose" the Mount
~ Weather observers noticed an unusual
'e amount of haze in the sky. 1t was a
= perfectly clear day and no ordinary
" weather conditions accounted for 1t. The
'e haze continued for a long time there
!, after on June 90 a German scientist
~ one of the weather bureaus correspon'
," dents, reported a similar haze In thu
=, atmosphere, which was his particular
III study. This haze has been botherint
NC scientists of all kinds most of the sum
d. mer The bureau of standards in Wash
ingtOn, IN tHe pursuit VI lis "'iN' ~"
to make many astronomical observations
''' Yet so unfavorable has been the atmos
w. rhere ever since the middle of June tina
- the bureau Is actually behind in 1t
work It has not averaged more thai
one favorable day month, all TIL
!. despite the fact that there have bee
plenty of clear days and Gays withou
~ clouds. Generally. 1t has been rattle
battling summer for astronomers.
., 1t Is well proved fact that vol
TT. c"hoes are "P''eo Va ,
oa fetish, with an ability to muddy the all
wa Just as the cephalopod can muddy tn
water In 1883, when Krakatoa blew II
-. head off in the East Indies, an incal
49, culable quantity of dust was tn5ecte
-, into the atmosphere 1t went clea
around the earth and remaine6"in sus
,ro pension for two years. 1t resulted
ne famous red sunsets and other phenomena
40 The Katmai eruption was a baby CON
~, pared to that of Krakatoa, and has RI
leo suited in no unusual sunsets, yet IN
,,s Mount Weather scientists are inclined I
aft piame II TOT at 'eas' part Vi .no ""1
,f which has been nagging astronomers an
holding up radiation. They are not pre-
pared to make the direct charge, but the
have strong suspicious.
Any citizen of the United States WI
says it has been just as hot this sun