Evening star., 1940-03-28
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study. |.i

In Field, Laboratory
And Study. 81
By Thomas X. Henry.
Winter is melting like an iceberg which
drifts into the gulf stream.
Spring weather over most of the
United States east Of the Rockies may be
expected, unless the weather map
changes decidedly in the meantime,
early in April, in the opinion OF FORE
casters of the United States Weather
Bureau.
When spring arrived according to the
calendar last week there was an enor-
nous mass Of cold, heavy air with its
center In the Mackenzie River basin of
Northwestern Canada. It covered ap-
proximately q million square miles and
was close to two miles thick. It was
like q super-gigantic atmospheric ice
berg, continually growing thicker as
cold air was fed into it from the North
Pole. a
There was plenty of spring like air
around Hawaii and the southern
Pacific, but the iceberg was SO big and
thick that nothing could get around it..
Late last week this great mass Of cold
air broke loose like a chunk breaking
of the Arctic ice sheet and began to
drift southeastward over Canada. AS
it drifted 1t was subjected to a hotter
sun and began to dwindle away. Tues
day its center was over the Ohio valley
and 1t was barely few thousand square
miles In area. Cut loose from the source
OF supply OF cold air it was melting fast.
When the iceberg" started to build
up with the advent of spring weather
forecasters were rather pessimistic.
They had seen the same thing happen
in January, resulting in the coolest
winter on record. But then there had
been no melting in the winter air of the
middle latitudes.
AS soon as the stupendous mass broke
loose an almost equally enormous mass
of warm, moist air whose center had
been in the Pacific a little north of
Hawaii had clear road into the North
American continent from Alaska to
California. 1t began drifting through
In greater and greater quantities as the
iceberg" melted. The warm air mass
had been building up constantly during
the long time it had been restrained. At
the same time other masses of warm air
began drifting in over the southeast
from the Gulf Of Mexico, contributing
still more to the melting process.
Still spring is few days off, The "ice-
berg" still stands today in the center of
the continent like great dome. When
the lighter, moist air hits, it climbs
over, is cooled in the process and clouds
are formed IN it. These clouds shield
the mountain of cold from the full heat
OF the sun and delay its melting. AS a
result, warmer nights can be expected
for brief interval. The days are not
expected to be very much warmer. The
normal expectancy would be cold rain
over much Of the country, and probably
snow IN the North. But the inevitable
cannot be delayed very long. The cold
mountain will melt and when it does
there will be nothing to prevent balny
weather over most Of the country. With
no obstacle the Pacific and Gulf of
Mexico air will overflow the continent,
The presence Of the ice mountain,
weather forecasters say, has been re-
sponsible for a peculiar paradox during
the past few days. The warm air mass
which mad been building up over the
Gulf OF Mexico and the Atlantic could
not come inland until 1t had drifted
about as far north as Nova Scotia.
Then it hit the cold air again and was
shunted inland IN spiral path. This
brought 1t over New England from
the northwest and folks wondered why
relatively balmy weather was coming
with a northwest wind.
While the prospect is fairly clear for
few days ahead, say the weather men
who are cautious of long-range forecasts,
nobody can tell how long the spring
weather will continue There is always
the possibility of another enormous "ice-
berg being built up over the Arctic and
breaking of. 1t now will be more diff
cult for it to get South, however, with
the broad, vigorous river of warm air
from the Pacific blocking its way.
Once the January high over Canada
had broken of and drifted south, they
point out, more than month elapsed
before similar mass had an op-
portunity to build up. If there had been
vigorous inflow from the Pacific, Feb
ruary would have been a mild winter
month.
With the steady journey of the sun
northward the Arctic itself will soon be
feeling the first touches of spring. A
warm sun shining even for part of
each day over the icy wastes slows down
the building up of new atmospheric
"icebergs' out Of the constant supply Of
warmer air moving over the North Pole
from the south. That is why, In the
Anal analysis, spring is inevitable.
Jay Franklin Column Called
Factualfy Wrong.
To the Editor Of The Star:
It is probably a good idea to have
column in The Star to present the wrong