Evening star., 1941-01-21
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

~ InOndS II. HCnrJ.
This winter, nearly half over is rum
ming warmer than normal for the entire
United States.
December was from ) to degrees
above average everywhere. The first
two weeks in january have kept up
this record, except in the Northwest.
Only extremely cold weather for the
country as a whole during the second
half can make the three months Of
December, January and February-the
official winter Of the Weather Bureau
an entirely normal season.
While some parts of the country, the
records show, have suffered very cold
weather. these have averaged out In the
general warmth.
The first half Of December had marked
contrasts in temperature between the
Eastern and Western halves Of the
country. The first week was unseason-
ably cold east of the Mississippi and,
abnormally warm in the West. The
next week this condition was reversed
with abnormally high temperatures in
the East. During the last half, the
records show, widespread abnormal
warmth prevailed. The last week was
about 20 per cent above normal in
some Of the Northwestern States.
OF all the thousands Of stations re-
porting to the Weather Bureau only one
Canton, N. Y.-reported q colbert than
average December.
The first two weeks Of the new year
have had moderate temperatures for the
season over most Of the country, but
accompanied by widespread rains, which
have made the season very disagreeable
in spite Of the saving in coal bills.
Toward the end Of the first week In
January an enormous mass of cold air
moved down from the North Pole and
pushed southwark over the great plains
States and eastward to the Atlantic
perature, but no abnormally low read
ings.
While below-Zero temperatures were
experienced in the Northeast and over
q considerable Northwestern area, the
minima were not unusually low for the
season. In the Northeast the lowest
reported was 10 below at Portland, Me-,
on January 7. One station In Wyoming
reported "a below. The zero line ex-
tended as far south as Northern Iowa
and Nebraska, but freezing weather was
not experienced much farther south
ward.
In Florida the temperature thus far
has
the fruit and truck farmers and prom
ising a prosperous tourist season.
Instead of cold, says DR.. J. B. Kincer,
chief climatologist of the Weather Bu-
reau, good deal of the country has had
nasty weather" Because Of rain and
mud outdoor farm work has been almost
impossible. In the South most of the
fields have been too wet to work. This
moisture, together with the mild temper
atures. has promoted winter vegetation.
A little dry. sunshiny weather is needed
for good planting season.
1t is proving. on the whole, an easy
winter for the forecasters. There have
been no unpredictable storms Air masses
have moved, for the most part, on
schedule.
There is high probability, but no GER
tainty, weather experts say, that the
warm winter will continue to the end.
Occasionally the second half OF . sea-
son completely upsets the record OF the
irst half. but generally . pattern, once
started, tends to continue
weather, like people," says Mr.. Kim
Ger, forms habits and finds 1t hard to
break them"
1t has been for the most part 4
green winter" he reports. Snowfall
has been moderate over most of the
Northwest. Maine has an accumulated
snow cover Of about 10 inches and there
are from to II inches in the Adiron-
dacks. The deepest reported from
Pennsylvania, however, is only / inch.
The upper lake region has 4 to S inches,
The average winter shows much deeper
snow in all these areas
There is no adequate explanation for
mild winter, the weather experts point
out. All they know is that the cold Is
not pouring down out of the Arctic basin,
generally along the valley Of the Mac
kenzie River in Northern Canada, quite
according to schedule. There Is only so
much cold accumulated in the basin of
the North Pole and this winter most Of
1t seems to have overfowed on con-
tinental Europe. There has been little
left for North America.
~ -
DR.. Alexander Wetmore, assistant Sec
retary of the Smithsonian Institution,
has just returned to Washington from
Costa Rica, where he passed two months
collecting specimens and studying the
varied bird life.
A guest of the Costa Rican govern
ment, DR.. Wetmore spent much of the
time in the isolated Guanacaste Province,
in the northwest of the republic, cattle
country little explored by naturalists,
and with primitive modes of transpor-
tation. He worked along the valley
Of the Tempesque River, and also on
the slopes Of the extinct volcano, Rincon
de Ia Vieja, a country Of rolling pas
lures and live oak groves. Higher on
the mountain he entered an entirely
uninhabited region of dense rain forest,
where the bird life was relatively un-
known.
His richest collecting, he found, was
in the vicinity of moving columns of
army ants which sweep through the
forest devouring all the tiny creatures