Smyrna times., 1936-07-09
WEATHER BORN
AT DISTANCES
Poles or Equator Found To
Be Breeding Places In
Most Instances
IN ETERNAL TURMOIL

Washington. Where does our
weather come from? Many an
American has asked that question
lately, for weather has been max
ing some of the biggest headlines.
One of the severest winters of the
Twentieth century, devastating
spring floods, and, more recently,
tornadoes, have kept weather" on
the front page.
Weather, with its showers, clouds
and winds, may seem local thing,
but actually the weather of the
United States is born in far-away
places-Arctic ice fields, the steam
ing-hot tropics, the blue waters of
the Gulf Of Mexico, and the foggy
northern Pacific" says the National
Geographic society.
''The poles and the Equator are
the fundamental weather breeders.
Air. cooled at the poles, falls toward
the earth's surface and flows toward
the Equator. There 1t is heated,
rises again, and flows back toward
the poles once more.
: But because the earth is whirl-
ing on its axis, and its surface is
broken up by mountain chains, river
valleys, oceans and continents, this
flow of air between Equator and
poles is far from smooth. It moves
In fits and starts and often mean
ders Off its course.
In Eternal Turmoil.
''The thick air blanket covering
the earth therefore is kept in eter-
nal turmoil. Huge, mountainous
masses of cold air from the poles
and warm air from the tropics bat
tie each other increasingly and from
their struggles comes the weather
that we know.
when warm and cold air masses
collide, vast areas of high and low
atmospheric pressure are formed,
known to the weather man as highs
and lows for short. Atmospheric
pressure is the weight Of air above
any point.
I'm a high cold air moves down.
ward in the center of the area, pill
ing up greater weight or pressure
Of air than normal. Warm winds
flow around and outward from the
center, In an anti-clockwise direc-
ton. Fair weather comes with
highs for the downward moving
cold air forms no clouds.
''In low warm air rises In the
center, forced up by cold air flow
ing inward around the edges In a
clockwise direction. The rising air
reduces the pressure at the surface
below normal. AS the warm air
rises 1t is cooled, It's moisture Is
condensed and falls as rain. Hence
lows bring storms. rain and snow.
ACROSS the United States, from
west to east, moves a steady parade
Of alternate highs and lows and
with them they bring the nations
weather. They move as much as
500 miles per day. as far as one
might drive In an automobile, and
cover areas ranging up to half the
continent.
Lows" Bring Storms.
"Out over the north Pacic ocean,
south OF the A1eutian island chain,
hangs a more OF less permanent
low In its center rises warm air
heated by the warm japanese cur
rent, while cold air from the Arc
tic pushes in at Its sides. From 1t
comes a large proportion of the
lows that bring storms and wet
weather to the United States. break
ing OF from the parent low like
small bubbles from big one. and
moving steadily east Other 1ows'
form over the United States itself,
when cold currents from the Arc
tic and warm, moist breezes from
the Gulf Of Mexico collide.
~Fair weather. brought BY 'highs,'