The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-14
BELIEVE WEATHER COMES IN CYCLES Based on 40-Year Law An other Cold Period Is
 Now Expected

London. March 1-Reciprocal News Service.)-A widespread belief exists Tn England that the climate is changing. Men of middle age declare that when they were boys the winters were more severe, l that in those days skating was possible l for weeks on end. Or they tell you that ! the summers nowadays are not what tSS used to be that they are shorter and that what there is of them is unduly mixed I up with inferior weather.
 l Weather scientists have not neglected this question They have been inyesti- gatng it for many years. They have lsought for any indication that change 1 is in progress which may involve future generations in glacial period or the re- verse Knowing with certainty that there | have been glacial periods, and periods | of more genial conditions iD the geo'og- | ical past, they have not lost sight or l the possibility that such changes may De slowly taking place in the present.
 l The result of these investigations 1s. l firstly. that oscillations of climate do take l place But they arc not confined to the l British Isles: they are apparently/general | lthroughout the world. Secondly, care tfuI examination of the records or historic ltjme shows that in spite of these oscllla-
 ticns there is not the slightest proof that lanva permanent change has taken place [ within historic times or is likley 10 tane place in the future.
 1 The records of accurate meteorological Instruments which In a few cases go back l 10 l50 years show on the contrary tnat evan in such an unstable thing as wealth Ter. the law of average prevails wonder l fullv SO Though 1868. the hottest year since e;renewich began to record its ob- seryations in. 1Sf1 shows q mean annual lte,nperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheitf while the coldest year. lSo5, shows d mean annual temperature of 4'.z, whicn | line rainfall in the driest year or the pe- r;od 1884 was only l6.4 inches, whereas 1 I;,, tbe wettest year, l9g, the precipita- tion was 255 inches, which Is rather
 rda swing of the pendulum, the remark 1 able fact remains that both m the case lof temperature and rainfall the average Throughout the period remains practcai's Iconstant. Racon expressed the opinion that every l forty years the same 6ind of weather | rec,,rred Among modern sclentlsts, Fro l lessor Brueckner of Berne has come 10 l rractically the same opinion. The SWISS l professor co aducted inveslisa'lohs cover inp a neriod of nearly 50c years ana 1 w-,da area. He studied not ony raSif. 7
 a,,s temnerature records, but also records af the prape harvest in France, Germany and Switzerland, the variations Tn the lIength of time during which the rivers ot ne rthern France and Asia have been ice- ho,,nd and the oscillations of glaciers. i Professor Brueckner found as the result l of his studies that in cycle whose aver
 age length is 3 years, there comes a series of years which are somewhat cool CT and also more rainy. and then sen'ss
 of years which are somewhat drler and
 jwarmer.
 1 Preuckner's periods have become an ac-
 capted term in meteorology- Testing the
 l theory by British records we find that
 inc yeafs 1s57-iS7S (22 years) showed most
 liv higher mean nftemperatures; 1879-17s92 fl4
 vears) showed mostly colder mean tenn
 perature: lsa3-1sis (26 years) showed most liv hig1aert mean temperatures Rainfall shows practically coinciding periods. For
 the period ls57-1sss it wah below the aver