Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-07

reaches it at its farthest pOint-therefore this
slow advance of the perihelion should make
our Winters and Springs q little warmer and
Autumns and early winter months little
colder.
Weather records. seem to show that such
changes are possibly taking place." said Prof.
Marvin. Here in the United States we have
Eastern and Atlantic Coast States. since 1920.
These 10 mild winters will definitely raise the
normal temperature for the area affected
A batch of Winter weather maps showed the
picture and it was an eye-opener-and would
fortify the "I told you so' groove in the brains
of those old-timers who have been telling US
that the weather is changing that winters are
not what they used To- be.
During nine of the. 10 winters more than
half of the United States stayed in the mild
weather map; and during four of the winters
practically the whole country averaged warmer
than usual BY usual" il meant the average
monthly temperature for 20 years of past
records.
The greatest departures above normal Winter
temperatures have taken place in the Atlantic
Coast States. Thus. in Delaware Maryland,
the District Of Columbia, Virginia and North
Carolina every one of the 10 winters has regis
tered warmer than usual. Nine of the winters
have piled up surplus heat in the Atlantic States
of New York, New Jersey. Pennsylvania and
Georgia. and in the interior States of Illinois.
Missouri and. Oklahoma
How much surplus heat? Well, in New York
the official thermometer ON top of the Whtehall
Building showed an average Of 31a degrees
above normal temperature daily for the first
three months in $780, Totaling these. daily de-
partures from normal. the Weather Bureau
finds that at the end Of March New York had
accumulated $40 degrees above it's average.
Nor is New York exceptional. There is hardly
city along the Atlantic Coast that does not
show an excess OF temperature for January.
February and March. And these accommodations
of excess temperature during 1880 can DO
matched by equal SURPRISES for most of the pre-
ceding nine years.
1T will be 40 or SO years before we can he
sure that these recent mild winters, represent
real trend in the climate" said Prof Marvin
But there Is a progressive. departure whicl1
suggests very strongly the probability of such q
trend. Winter seems to be advancing into
Spring"
Sixty-odd years ago Elias LOomis and HI A.
Newton made an analysis of weather observa-
tons recorded at New Haven, Conn, between
1778 and 1855. They took the records of tenn
perature for that long period and fitted q
curve to all observations; and found that Janu-
airy 10 was the average coolest day for all those
years.
Recently Prof Marvin made a. similar caicu-
lation for New Haven and the Eastern United;
States for the period 1870 to 1919, and he found
that during these years the coolest day fell,
when averaged, ON January 19.
From this comparison 1t would appear that
since 1855 our Winter has, advanced DAYS into
Spring.
The changes within the solar system, by
which the earths nearest position to the sun, In.
advancing are in the right direction to produce
just this result" added Prof Marvin. st believe
that here is direct longtime effect upon our
climate that we can trace to the sun.
1.-THE movement is in the direction that
should make for milder climate in the Northern
Hemisphere and for colder climate In the
Southern Hemisphere.