The mirror., 1920-12-16
is SNOWFALL DECREASING?

"Old-Fasioned Winters" were very much
like the up-to-date kind; that is some
times they were severe and sometimes they
were mild. We remember the severe
ones, and hence the myth that win
ters used to be colder than they are
nova belief that is substantiated by
no records. That weather and climate
have not changed from the time of the
landing of the Pilgrims down to the
present day, is the conclusion of Prof.
Robert De c. Ward, of Harvard, who
writes on "The Snowfall of the United
States" in "The Scientific Monthly" Uan-
caster, Pa.). Over half century ago
the author of a work on "Permanence of
the Principal Conditions of Climate" ex-
pressed the same opinion, thereby doubt
less scandalizing his contemporaries, who
although then dwelling in climatic condi-
tons that we now look back upon as "old-
fashioned" were themselves looking still
further back to an older fashion when the
winters were really cold and they had
snow and ice worth talking about! Says
Professor Ward in his concluding section:
There is widespread popular belief
in many parts of the country, especially
in the earlier settled sections of the north
east, that less snow falls now than was
the case years ago. In New England, for
example, it is customary to speak of the
'old-fashioned New England winters
which brought many heavy snow-storms ;;
when snow lay on the ground uninter-
ruptedly all winter, and when sleighing
was possible for three or four months
without break. In a question of this
kind it is, of course, impossible, to put
any confidence in general impressions or
in tradition. 1t is mistake to place abb
solute trust in our memories, and attempt
to judge such subtle things as differences
in snowfall on the basis of such memories,
which are at best short, defective, and in
the highest degree untrustworthy. The
tendency inevitably is to exaggerate past
events; to remember few exceptional
seasons which, for one reason or another,
made deep impression on us, and very
much to overrate some special event. In
dividual severe winters which, as they
occur, are some years apart seen, when
looked back upon from distance of sew
eral years later, to have been close to-
gether. 1t as much as in the case of the
telegraph poles along railroad track.
When we are near the individual poles,
they seem fairly far apart, but when we
look down the track, the poles seem to
stand close together. The difference in
the impressions upon youthful and adult
minds may account for part of this popu-
lar belief in changes of climate. To
youthful mind heavy snowstorm is a
memorable thing. 1t makes deep i'm
preston, which lasts long and which, in
later years, when snowstorms are just as
heavy, seems to dwarf the recent storms
in comparison with the older.
"Changes of residence may account for
some of the prevailing ideas about changes
of climate. One who was brought up as
child in the country, where snow drifts
deep and where roads are not quickly
broken out, and who later removes to
city, where the temperatures are slightly
higher, where the houses are warmer, and
where the snow is quickly removed from
the streets, naturally thinks that the win
ters are milder or less snowy than when
he was a child.
"The only reliable evidence is that
which rests upon instrumental records.
Accurate instruments, properly exposed
and carefully read, do not lie; do not
forget; are not prejudiced. When such
instrumental records, scattered though they
are, and difficult as it is to draw general
conclusions from them are carefully ex-