The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1934-02-01

$1,000
is adding another winter to its rec
ords and at the same time is still
wondering if the winters really "aren't
what they used to be-" The older
generation, for the most part, still
contends that winter has lost most OF
its terrors, but after the cold weather
which followed Christmas some
youngsters are inclined to be doubt
full of this trend.
For Baltimore experienced a low
temperature of degrees, the coolest
in several years lie up in the
Western Maryland mountains sub
zero cold was registered, and the en-
tire East shivered The chilliest
spot in America was White River,
north of our Great Lakes; there the
mercury almost fell out of sight at
Sc degrees below zero. Across north
ern New York State temperatures of
35 below were experienced and at the
weather observatory atop Mount
Washington, highest New England
point, the mercury dropped to 46 de-
grees below as the wind howled across
the peak at lis miles an hour.
Still Above Normal
But the winter of 1933-34 still has
a large reserve of excess accumuia-
ton of temperatures to draw upon be-
fore it gets down to normal. And for
many winters past these departures
from the monthly normal tempera
lures have been showing a decided up
ward trend. Since 1905, according to
actual figures, winters over most of
the world have been mild. But that
is all that is known about it, for
there is no criterain by which the
winters of long ago may be compared
with those of the present age; man
and his fundamentally recorded eli
matte history does not date back far
enough.
Weather specialists have been I'M
able to agree definitely whether the
winters actually are changing. Some
point out that snow which seemed so
deep to the short legs of our child
hood becomes nearly a thin layer
when we are grown; that the ice
which bore US while we skated when
we were 10 now yields and breaks I'M
the weight of our mature years,
that the cold which nipped US
playing out doors all day does
EN- so severe in our Steamboat
es and offices and vehicles.
factors may account for
the belief that the winte s
nging, for it is a familiar
ance that most events, no
f what transcendental impor-
hey seem at the time, lose
their impressiveness with the
years.
The Old Proverbs
st persons have heard the old
.erbs about the severity of the
inter. Grandmother, picking the
christmas goose, says the feathers
tick tight, hence the winter will be
.old. When bees store away much
honey; if animals have heavy coats of
fur; should squirrels gather large
boards of nuts; when the holly is full
of berries; these, and other signs, are
said to presage the coming of hard
winter. While many farmers and
"wish-bone prophets" say these signs
are true, the fact remains that prov
erbs and prophets" have so scien-
tific basis.
But there are scientists who, after
Giving deep into figures and facts,
tate that an upward trend toward
lilder winters does actually exist.
Occasionally a cold season descends
upon us, but the tendency continues
upward. Of course, the facts so Ear
presented do not permit serious pre-
dictions of warmer or colder winters
for a year or more ahead.
Thus, while the present winter ap~
pears to have tendency to become
decidedly cold, it may end it's career
on March 81 as just another of those
mild winters at which grandfather is
pleased to scott.
What The Records Show
One man who can prove what he
says about the winters is DR.. j. 5.
Kincer, of the Weather Bureau, in
Washington. He sits with a finger
literally on the pulse of the climatic
world, for he has more than 5000 CO.
operative observers in the United
States, and hundreds of other experts,
here and abroad, to help him. The
tons and tons of reports in the Wealth
er Bureaus Genealogical Division
would make happy the most meticu-
lous statistician.
From this vast storehouse of the
worlds climate DR.. Kincer has pre-
pared series of deductions which
bear out the popular belief that the
winters are milder.