Familiar Talks on Science: World-Building and Life; Earth, Air and Water.Gray, Elisha
Science
Familiar Talks on Science: World-Building and Life; Earth, Air and Water.
Gray, Elisha
Science
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account