Familiar Talks on Science-World-Building and Life. Earth Part 5

There is a peculiar wind that occurs in Switzerland, often, between the months of November and March. These winds last from two to three days and are of great violence--especially near the mountains. They are warm and dry and are caused by an area of low barometer and an ascending current of air occurring at some point north of the Alps, which causes the air from Italy to flow over the Alpine range, causing a tremendous precipitation of snow and rain, which not only takes the moisture from the air, but sets free in the form of heat the energy that was stored in the process of evaporation, and this, together with the compression of the air as it flows down the slope of the mountains, makes it hot and dry. This wind is called the "Fohn."

There is a similar condition of things existing on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains which has a modifying effect upon the climate of parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, also extending up into British America. This wind, which is here called "chinook," arises from causes similar to those that are active in Switzerland that give rise to the "fohn" wind.

There is a wind called the "blizzard" that is felt most keenly in Montana and the Dakotas during the winter, which is exceedingly cold and lasts sometimes for a period of 100 hours. The temperature falls at times 30 or 40 degrees below zero and the wind maintains a velocity of from forty to fifty miles an hour. These winds spread eastward as far as Illinois, but not with the same severity, and they move southward to the Gulf of Mexico, spreading over the States of Texas and Louisiana, and are there called "northers." It is exceedingly dangerous to be caught in a blizzard in the Dakotas, where the wind reaches its greatest velocity and the cold its lowest temperature--especially when the wind is accompanied, as it frequently is, by severe snowing. By the time it reaches the Gulf States it is very much modified as to temperature, but it is a very disagreeable wind in that portion of the country, because of the exceeding dampness of the air. One would be much more comfortable in dry, still air, even if it were many degrees below zero, than in an air freighted with moisture, although the temperature has not fallen to the freezing point.

There are hot winds called by different names according to the localities in which they occur. In southern California at certain seasons of the year the inhabitants are afflicted with what they call a desert wind that blows from the heated regions of Arizona toward the Pacific Ocean. The temperature sometimes reaches 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and persons have been known to perish from the effects of these hot winds in open boats out on the water before they could reach land.

Hot winds prevail on the plains of Kansas during the months of July and August that are phenomenal in their intensity, so much so that if they were widespread and of long continuance, like the northern blizzard, they would be attended with great loss of life and destruction to vegetation. Fortunately, they come in narrow streaks and in most cases do not blow more than from ten to thirty minutes at a time. These hot belts are sometimes not over 100 feet wide, and again they are as much as 500. They are so hot and dry that green leaves and gra.s.s are rendered as dry as powder in a few minutes. These winds are probably caused by the fact that at this season of the year, when the prevailing wind is southwesterly, the air becomes heated to a great height, and are the resulting effect of certain combinations of air currents in the higher regions of the atmosphere that force the already heated air toward the earth. As the air descends it is more and more compressed, which causes it to become more and more heated. We have already described the heating effect of compression upon air as shown by the experiment with the fire syringe. It was shown that air at normal temperature could be suddenly compressed into so small a s.p.a.ce that the condensed heat, which was before diffused through the whole bulk of air at normal pressure, was sufficient to cause ignition. A cubic yard of air on the surface of the earth would occupy a much larger s.p.a.ce if carried a mile above it. From this it is easy to see that if a volume of air at that height had a temperature of 70 or 80 degrees it would be very hot when condensed into a very much smaller volume, as it would be if it were forced down to the surface of the earth. These winds are the result of some superior force that is active in the upper regions of the atmosphere, because it is natural for heated air to rise, and this is what happens when the power that forced it down to the earth is no longer active to hold it there.

Reference has been made in a former chapter to tornado winds; they are rather exceptional phenomena and not thoroughly understood. The winds seem to blow in from all directions toward an area of very low pressure at a single point. The spiral motion that is common to all cyclones, in a tornado seems to be gathered up into a condensed form, like a funnel.

The direction of movement is the same as that of the cyclone--that is, in the reverse direction to that of the hands of a watch. The upward motion of the air inside of the funnel is at a rate of over 170 miles an hour. The onward movement of the whole system is about thirty miles per hour.

Tornadoes occur with greater frequency in the United States than in any other section of the globe. Tornadoes seldom occur in winter, except perhaps in the Southern States. They are more frequent in the month of May than at any other time during the year, although they occur sometimes in April, June, and July.

Between 1870 and 1890 about sixty-five destructive tornadoes occurred in the United States, involving great loss of life and property. When a tornado moves off the land on to the ocean it may become what is termed a waterspout. These probably never originate on the water, but after they have once formed may be carried over the water to a considerable distance. A tornado was never known to originate on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan, but there are a few instances (the most notable one being the Racine tornado) when they have reached the lake after having traveled from some distant point inland.

The Racine tornado--so called because it destroyed a large portion of that city--happened fifteen or more years ago. The tornado originated about 100 miles southwest of Racine, Wis., in northern Illinois. The funnel-shaped cloud pa.s.sed over the lake, but the tornado character of the storm was broken up before it reached the other sh.o.r.e.

When a tornado pa.s.ses from land to water it becomes a waterspout only when the cloud-funnel hangs low enough and the gyratory energy is sufficiently great. There is a great pressure on the water outside of the funnel and almost a perfect vacuum inside. This latter fact contributes largely to the destructive power of the tornado. When a funnel is central over a building a sudden vacuum is created outside of it and it bursts outwardly from the internal air pressure.

CHAPTER XIII.

WEATHER PREDICTIONS.

To predict with any great accuracy what the weather will be from day to day is a somewhat complicated problem, and, as all of us have reason to know, weather predictions made by those who have the matter in charge and are supposed to know all about it often fail to come to pa.s.s. The real trouble is that they do not know all about it. There are so many conditions existing that are outside of the range of barometers, thermometers, anemometers, and telegraphs that no one can tell just when some of these unknown factors will step in to spoil our predictions.

In very many cases, perhaps in a large majority of them, the predictions made by the weather bureau substantially come to pa.s.s. It has been stated in former chapters that the changes of weather accompany the movements of what are called cyclones and anti-cyclones, the cyclone being accompanied by low barometric pressure and the anti-cyclone by a higher one. The winds of the cyclone move spirally around the center of lowest depression with an upward trend, the motions being in a direction reversed to that of the hands of a clock. In the centers of high pressure the current is downward instead of upward and the direction of the wind around it is opposite to that around the low-pressure area. The fundamental factor in predicting the weather is the direction of movement of these areas of low pressure. In almost all cases the direction of movement is from the west to the east, but not always in a straight line. These movements, however, are cla.s.sified so that after the direction has become established one can predict with considerable accuracy as to whether it will move in a curved or a straight line. By movement we do not refer to the direction of the wind at any particular point, but the onward movement of the whole cyclonic system, which is usually from twenty-five to thirty miles an hour, but in some cases the speed is much greater.

Not only does the upward movement of the whole system vary, but the velocity of the wind around any given cyclonic center varies. There are about eleven cla.s.ses of cyclones that appear in the United States, each cla.s.s having its own path of movement and origin. A large number of these appear to originate north of the Dakotas, and move directly east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Three other cla.s.ses originate on about the same line, a little west,--say, north of Montana,--moving first in a southeasterly direction, pa.s.sing over the center of Lake Michigan and bending northerly through Lake Ontario and finally landing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two other cla.s.ses start at the same point, one of them going as far south as Cincinnati, and the other as far south as Montgomery, Ala., and both turning at these points northeasterly to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two other cla.s.ses originate in Colorado, one moving in a northeasterly direction slightly curved, and the other directly east. Still others have their origin farther south in the Gulf of Mexico, and move in a northeasterly direction. Very rarely they originate in the Atlantic east of Savannah, moving first in a northwesterly direction, but finally bending to the northeast.

Every day there is a weather map made up showing the locations of the high and low barometers, direction of wind, lines of equal pressure, as well as those of temperature. By study from year to year all of these phenomena have become systematized, so that by tracing an area of low barometer from its origin in its progress easterly it is soon seen to fall under one of these cla.s.ses and we are able to predict about what its course will be. Knowing the speed of its movement as well as the velocity of wind and all the conditions attending it, taken in connection with the weather conditions in the region for which the prediction is made, an expert can ordinarily forecast with some degree of accuracy. After all that can be said, however, weather predictions based upon maps are and have been far from satisfactory. One who has been a close student of local conditions for a number of years will often predict with as great accuracy as the weather bureau. Areas of low pressure are followed sooner or later by a fall of temperature; this is especially true in the winter months. Sometimes this fall is very marked, and then it is called a cold wave. These sudden changes of temperature are not thoroughly understood, but are supposed to be due partly at least to rapid radiation of heat into the upper regions, as the clear atmosphere which usually attends areas of high pressure is favorable to such a condition. Undoubtedly, too, there are dynamic causes, forcing the colder air from the upper regions to the earth, when it immediately flows off toward an area of low barometer.

Long-time predictions are purely guesses. They sometimes guess on the right side, and this gives them courage to make another. It is an old saying that "all signs fail in dry weather." In time of a drought it is true that the indications which at ordinary times would be surely followed by a rain are of no value. When a season is once established, either as a rainy season or a dry season, it is likely to persist in this character until a change comes that is produced by the movement of the sun in its course northerly and southerly, and the change produced from this cause requires several weeks of time.

If accurate weather predictions could be made for a long time in advance, or for even a week, they would be of incalculable value. But it is doubtful if ever this will be brought about, as there are too many necessarily hidden factors which enter into the calculations. If stations could be established all over the oceans with sufficient frequency, and an equal number at a sufficient alt.i.tude in the air, I have no doubt that much that is now mysterious might be made plain.

CHAPTER XIV.

HOW DEW IS FORMED.

Reader, did you ever live in the country? Were you ever awakened early on a summer's morning to "go for the cows"? Did you ever wade through a wheat field in June--or the long gra.s.s of a meadow--when the pearly dewdrops hung in cl.u.s.ters on the bearded grain, s.h.i.+ning like brilliants in the morning sun? Have you not seen the blades of gra.s.s studded with diamonds more beautiful than any that ever flashed in the dazzling light of a ballroom? If not, you have missed a picture that otherwise would have been hung on the walls of your memory, that no one could rob you of.

Everyone has noticed that at certain times in the year the gra.s.s becomes wet in the evening and grows more so till the sun rises the next day and dispels the moisture, and this when no cloud is seen. Dew is as old as the fields in which gra.s.s grows. It was as familiar to the ancients as it is to us, and yet it is only about three-quarters of a century since the cause of it has been understood. We even yet speak of the dew "falling" like rain. In former times some scientists supposed that it was a fine rain that fell from the higher regions of the atmosphere.

Others supposed it to be an emanation from the earth, while still others supposed it was an exudation from the stars.

"By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down dew" (Prov. iii. 20).

The first experiments carried on in a scientific way were by Dr. Wells, a physician of London, between the years 1811 and 1814.

Everyone has noticed in warm weather the familiar phenomenon of water condensed into drops on the outside of a pitcher or tumbler containing cold water. This condensation is dew. It always forms when the conditions are right, summer and winter. In cold weather we call it frost. It has been stated in a former chapter on evaporation that the capacity of the air for holding moisture in a transparent form depends upon its temperature. If the temperature is at the freezing point it will contain the 160th part of the atmosphere's own weight as aqueous vapor. If it is 60 degrees Fahrenheit the air will retain six grains of transparent moisture to the square foot of air, while at 80 degrees it will contain nearly eleven grains. When the air is charged with this vapor to the point of saturation (which point varies with the temperature) a slight depression of the temperature is sufficient to condense this vapor into cloud or drops of water. Between 1812 and 1814 Dr. Wells made a series of experiments with flocks of cotton wool. He weighed out pieces of equal weight and attached a number of them to the upper side of a board and as many more to the lower side, and exposed it to the night air under varying conditions. One experiment was made with a board four feet from the earth, so that half of the bunches of cotton faced the ground and the other half the sky. He found upon weighing these after a night's exposure under a clear sky that the cotton wool on top of the board had gained fourteen grains in weight from the moisture, or dew, that had formed upon it, while the same amount of cotton on the under side of the board had only increased four grains. He tried further experiments by making little paper houses, or boxes, to cover a certain portion of gra.s.s or vegetation. He found that while there would be a heavy dew on the gra.s.s outside there was little or none within the inclosure. These experiments were conducted in various ways and closely watched to see that none of the phenomena were in any way connected with falling rain. It has been determined that substances like gra.s.s and green leaves of all kinds, hay and straw, while they are poor conductors of heat, are excellent radiators. In another chapter we have referred to this quality of straw, that is taken advantage of by the inhabitants of hot countries in the manufacture of ice and in our own land for storing it.

Perhaps everyone who has lived in the country has noticed that on a summer's morning when the gra.s.s is laden with dewdrops a gravel walk or a dusty road will be perfectly dry. This is due to the fact that the gravel will retain heat and not radiate it, for a much longer time than gra.s.s or green leaves. Dew begins to form upon the gra.s.s very soon after the sun is set because the moment the sun's rays are withdrawn the heat is rapidly radiated by the blades of gra.s.s, which cools the earth under it and the air above and surrounding it, so that if the air is anywhere near the moisture saturation point on cooling at the surface of the ground it will readily give up a part of its moisture, which condenses in drops upon the blades of gra.s.s.

If the night is still and clear and there is much moisture in the air, the dew will be heavy, but if the night is cloudy there will be little or no dew formed. The clouds form a screen between the earth and the upper regions of the atmosphere, which prevents the heat from radiating to a sufficient extent to form dew. For the same reason no dew will form under a light covering spread over the ground even at some distance above it. The covering acts as a screen, which prevents the heat from radiating to the dew point. From what has gone before it will be seen that if the atmosphere is not charged with moisture up to the point of saturation it will require a greater amount of depression of temperature to cause condensation, and this is why we usually have heavier dews in June when the air is more highly charged with moisture than we do in August when it is dry. This also accounts for the ice clouds, called cirrus, being formed so high up in the atmosphere during dry weather.

There is so little moisture in the air that it requires a very great difference of temperature to cause condensation to take place, and the necessary depression is not reached in these cases except at an alt.i.tude of several miles.

Dr. Wells has shown that if we take the reading of two thermometers on a clear summer night, one of them lying on the gra.s.s and the other suspended two feet above it, we shall find that the one lying on the gra.s.s will read 8 or 10 degrees lower than the one suspended in the air.

If the night is still there will be a cold stratum of air next to the earth, which will not tend to diffuse itself to a very great degree and dew will form. If, however, it is cloudy or the wind is blowing there is rarely any formation of dew. The reason in the former case, as we have explained, is that the radiated heat is held down to the earth in a measure, and in the latter case there is a constant change of air; so that in either case no part of it is allowed to cool down sufficiently to precipitate moisture.

It is a curious fact that often there will be a heavier dew under the blaze of a full moon on a clear night than at any other time. The moon has no screens about it of any kind to obstruct the free radiation of heat. It is supposed to be a dead cinder floating in s.p.a.ce and not surrounded by an atmosphere, so that the sun's rays have full effect upon it during the time it is exposed to them, and at that time it becomes heated to a temperature of something like 750 degrees Fahrenheit. For half the month, say, the sun is s.h.i.+ning continuously upon all or a part of it. In other words, the days and nights of the moon are about two weeks long. The moon does not revolve upon its own axis like the earth, therefore the same side or a portion of it is exposed to the sun for 14 days. During the time that the moon is in the earth's shadow it is supposed to fall to 187 degrees below zero, which is 219 degrees below the freezing point. When the moon is full and is heated up to over 700 degrees there is sufficient heat radiating from it to be felt sensibly upon the face of the earth, and it would be felt if it were not for the great envelope of atmosphere and its attendant cloud formations that surround the earth. There are but few days in summer when there is not a haze in the atmosphere, although we call the sky clear, which intensifies the light and gives everything a warmer tone.

The heat coming from a full moon on a clear night is absorbed in causing the aqueous vapors that are partly condensed in the higher regions of the atmosphere, to be reabsorbed into transparent vapor. This clears away the heat screen in the atmosphere and allows radiation to go on more rapidly at the earth's surface, and thus cools it to a greater extent when the moon is s.h.i.+ning brightly than when it is dark and in the shadow of the earth.

As we have already mentioned, the cold that is produced by radiation through the blades of gra.s.s and other radiating substances may be indicated by placing one thermometer on the ground and fixing another at some point in the air. Sometimes the difference is very marked, amounting to as much as 20 or 30 degrees. If under these conditions a cloud floats overhead, forming a heat screen, its presence will be readily noticed by a rise in the thermometer. Radiation into the upper regions of the atmosphere is checked, which causes a sudden rise in the temperature near the surface of the earth. By taking advantage of this principle of heat radiation from the earth's surface it is a very easy matter to protect tender vegetation from even quite a severe frost, if it occurs in the early fall, by a slight covering, such as thin paper.

The paper will act as a heat screen and in a measure prevent the heat from radiating from the earth immediately under it. Frost--which of course is but frozen dew--at this season of the year will form on a still autumn night, although the atmosphere at some distance above the ground is some degrees above the freezing point. The reason for this will be obvious when we consider the facts that have been set forth concerning the power of radiation to produce cold.

It has been estimated by meteorologists that the amount of water condensed upon the surface of the earth in the form of dew amounts to as much as five inches, or about one-seventh of the whole amount of moisture that is evaporated into the air. It will thus be seen that dew performs an important part in supporting vegetation.

The same operation in nature's great workshop that forms the dews of summer creates the frosts of winter. The moisture in cold weather is condensed the same as in warm. When it is condensed at the surface of the earth we have the phenomenon of frost, but when condensed in the upper regions of the atmosphere we have that of snow.

Heat radiation from the earth goes on in winter, which is evidenced by the fact that a thick covering of snow is a great benefit to vegetation as a protection against the injurious effects of frost. The writer has seen flowers blooming abundantly at an alt.i.tude of 12,000 feet above the sea-level, protected only by the friendly shelter of a s...o...b..nk. In some cases the blooming flowers were in actual contact with the snow. By experiment it has been determined that the earth under a thick coating of snow is usually warmer by nine or ten degrees than the air immediately above the snow covering.

CHAPTER XV.

HAILSTONES AND SNOW.

A hailstone is a curious formation of snow and ice, and most of the large hailstones are conglomerate in their composition. They are usually composed of a center of frozen snow, packed tightly and incased in a rim of ice, and upon this rim are irregular crystalline formations jutting out in points at irregular distances. Frequently, however, we find them very symmetrically formed as to outline, and the snow centers are almost without exception round. Hailstones and hailstorms differ in different climates, but they are more p.r.o.nounced in the torrid than in the temperate zone. Historians give accounts of hailstones of enormous size; the very large hailstones being undoubtedly aggregations of single stones that have been thrown together and congealed in the clouds during their fall to the earth.

It is recorded that on July 4, 1819, hailstones fell at Baconniere measuring fifteen inches in circ.u.mference, and very symmetrically formed, with beautiful outline. Hailstones in India are said to be very large--from five to twenty times larger than those in England or America--seldom less than walnuts and often as large as oranges and pumpkins. It is recorded that in 1826, during a hailstorm at Candeish, the stones perforated the roofs of houses like cannon shot, and that a single ma.s.s fell that required several days to melt, weighing over 100 pounds. It is further recorded that on May 8, 1832, a conglomerate ma.s.s of hailstones fell in Hungary a yard in length and nearly two feet in thickness. Still another instance is recorded of a hailstone having fallen in 1849 of nearly twenty feet in circ.u.mference. This hailstone is said to have fallen upon the estate of Mr. Moffat of Ord. We will only ask our readers to listen to one more hailstone story, in which it is related that during the reign of Tippoo, sultan, a hailstone fell as large as an elephant. Undoubtedly one of two things was true regarding this latter story; it was either a very large hailstone or a very small elephant. The historian fails to give the size of the elephant. There is no doubt, however, but that hailstones may adhere and form large ma.s.ses owing to the violent agitation of the elements that always attends a hailstorm.

Hailstorms are almost universally attended by constant and heavy thunder and lightning, together with violent winds. They usually occur on a very hot day, and when the air is filled to saturation with moisture.

When this is the case a column of air is very highly heated at some point, when it ascends with great force into the upper regions of the atmosphere to a greater alt.i.tude than is common in the case of ordinary thunderstorms. Here it meets with an intensely cold body of air, when it is suddenly condensed and readily frozen as soon as condensed, which not only forms hailstones, but sets free the energy that has been carried up in the moisture globules. This results in frequent electrical discharges, causing great waves of condensed and rarefied air, which, in the rarefied portions, produces still more intense cold; so that we have the conditions for a mighty struggle between the elements, which is intensified by a constant and terrific electric cannonade. Undoubtedly there are also whirlwinds in the cloud, similar to those that sometimes visit the earth, which would tend to gather up the hailstones and aggregate them into large ma.s.ses. It is a mighty battle between the moisture-laden, superheated air, ascending from the surface of the earth, and the powers residing in the upper regions of cold. Nature is constantly struggling to find an equilibrium of her forces, and a hailstorm is only one of the little domestic flurries that take place when she is setting her house to rights. Hailstorms are usually confined to very narrow limits, and they can prevail on a grand scale only in hot climates, where we have the conditions for wide differences of temperature between the upper and lower regions of the atmosphere; and, also, where the conditions are favorable, for an enormous amount of absorption of moisture into the atmosphere.

When snow is formed in the atmosphere, the conditions are quite different from those of a hailstorm; it is usually in a lower plane of the atmosphere, and there is no violent commotion, as is the case with the latter. A volume of air laden with moisture comes in contact with a colder volume of air, when condensation takes place, as in the case of rain, except that the moisture is immediately frozen. In this case both volumes of air may be below the freezing point, but one is very much colder than the other. If the snow reaches the earth it will be because the air is below the freezing point all the way down. Snow is formed at all seasons of the year. We may have a snowstorm on a high mountain when we have extreme heat at sea-level.

In summer time of course the snow melts as soon as it falls into a stratum of air with a temperature above the freezing point, and continues its journey from that point as raindrops instead of snowflakes. In the formation of a snowflake Nature does some of her most beautiful work. A snowflake first forms with six ice spangles, radiating from a common center. Shorter ones form on these six spokes, standing at an angle of about sixty degrees, on each side of each spoke, of such length and arrangement as to form a symmetrical figure or flower. They do not always take the same form, but follow the same laws that govern the formation of ice crystals. The structure of a snowflake may be often found upon a window pane of a frosty morning. Here, however, the free arrangement of the parts of a snow crystal are interfered with by its contact with the window pane, but while floating gently in the air there is the utmost freedom for the play of nature's forces as they apply to the work of crystallization.