Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-09-24
WAR AND THE WEATHER.
Battles In Europe Have No Effect on
Rainfall.

odIItCS S6'ShS
Rainfall.
Washington. August 3l.-There Is
nothing in it," says the United States
weather bureau 10 repeated inquiries
a. 70 whether the war affects rainfall
or any other weather conditions. Ihere
is q popular fallaCy that concussiohs'
.cxuIosions and the Liberation or gases
i'm th.. European conflicts IS having an
effect on the weather, not only over
IN. battlefields. but elsewhere on 'he
globe: but II is only fallacy' says the
weather specialists or the Ihi'eu
States department OF agriculture. even
,boupb il has existed almost since the
beginning OF historic times. BEFORE
gunIowder was used. the ancicnlS hau
AN idea that battles produced Taihia''
which was caused by the CLASH OF the
.yvords and the sweat Of the fighters.
Later the same theory was 'rahs-
f.rrcd 10 the noise produced 10y MUSK
etry and artillery: Later still, 10 DUST
rs,rticles and smoke from burning
DOWUeT, upon Wv
the air was supported to condens" am
10 fall as rain and now TO the gases
freed by explosions. and liberated III
IN. new chemical warfare.
Tb,s, theories are not combatted
merely by other theories. but by actu-
al observations made officially by sew
cral of the belligcrent governments
and the net result Of these careful OBJ
,crv,,ions is to rcfrIte the idea of any
effect OF war on weather.
While the notion Of this effect has
hccn repeatedly exposed in sclcntihc
journals. the general press has from
,iuc 10 time printed articles in which
the idea Of connection between battle
and rainfall has been brought forward.
For this reason the weather oinclaiS
feel that the following facts may bc
timely and interesting:
Real Cause Of Rain.
The real cause OF rain Is the COOLING
of the air by the vertical rising OF
heated air currents. and the incoming
of cooler currents to take their places.
All weather conditions depend uiti-
matcly for their origin on the heating
and cooling OF the atmosphere. MI IN"
nowdcr that could bc reasonably OK
,.nd.d in the battle, even by millions
of men engaged, would not be enough
TO produce any appreciahle chahse III
tcmpcrature throughout any considefa-
hI, section OF the atmosphere over IN"
battle area.
Some have thought that the jarring
effect of the conclusions JoGgles TO-
uctbcr the moisture PARTICLES in the
air. lust as a sharp tap on the window
pane will start descent OF larger
drops from many smaller ones made
hy n mist or drizzlc. A sharp down.
pour of rain following Immediately
after a heavy crash of thunder is sup
posed To be in example OF the sam"
cause and effect. This theory was
partlv back of all the 'rainmaking at
tcmpts formerly tried in Kansas. Tex
as and elsewhere to break dronghts by
a 'bOfnDdluHlclll VI 'hN 'N'
The weather specialists point out
that In all such cases. even whch
rain has followed such bombardments
the moisture was there and was due
to fall anyhow without mans inter-
vcntion and that in such few cases
where rain has fallen 1t has been
mere coincidence, the rain being due to
natural causes. and the drought was
broken because it was time that IL
should have been broken In the natural
course OF events. In short, moisture
would fall when it was present; II II
were not present all the conclusions
that could be devised by man could
not make rain.
Result of Actual Observations.
Actual observations by French and
American observers have failed to es-
tablish any relationship between
storming the enemy and storms from
the skies. Careful studies show that
rainfall and battles do not coincide
enough to give he basis for theory
of cause and effect. The great battles
in France in the spring of 1917 failed
to interrupt the long spell OF 1alr
weather that accompanied them. Fur
thermore. an examination recently
made of the records OF local distribu-
tion of rainfall over England during
the first two months OF the war made
by the British meteorological office.
resulted in strengthening the eridcnc"
against the theory.
Old Theories Die Hard.
The director of the French mcteoro-
logical bureau. NJ. Ango. practically
SAWS that the wish is father TO the
thought, and that an idea that Is deep
seated and of long duration dies hard.
TIL. survival OF the f;,llacy is due to
the suggestion constantly given 10y in
stinctivc belief Possessed of such 4
belief. one is inclined to note only the
favorable condolences. he says. ignor-
ing the many circumstances that do
not bear out the theory. and thus to
become more and more confirmed in
the opinion.
II has been maintained that recent
severe droughts in the western part
of the country have been due to the ex-
ccssive rainfalls over European battle
fields The idea was advanced that so
much rain fell in France that there
was not enough to go round. so the
folks in other quarters of the globe
had TO do without. The weather bu-
reau says that all such theories are in
the same category and all are unwor-
thy OF belief.
u. S. TROOP TRAIN IN PARIS.