The Philosophy of the Weather. And a Guide to Its ChangesButler, T. B. (Thomas Belden)
Science
The Philosophy of the Weather. And a Guide to Its Changes
Butler, T. B. (Thomas Belden)
Weather; Weather forecasting
6th. S. E. storms do not always, or indeed often, conform to the
requirements of his card. When they set in violently at S. E., and
continue so for hours without veering, the axis of the storm should be
over us, and the wind should change _suddenly_ to N. W. This did not occur
in the storm of Sept. 3, 1821, nor does it often, if ever, occur in the
summer or early gales of the autumnal months. In the later storms of
autumn, and as often in those which are very gentle as any, and in the
winter months when S. E. gales are rare, it does sometimes so change after
the storm cloud has passed. But in the winter months, as in the storm
investigated by Professor Loomis, the storms are frequently long from S.
E. to N. W., and the S. E. wind blows nearly in coincidence with its long
axis, for a thousand or fifteen hundred miles, till the barometric minimum
is passed, and the inducing and attracting force of this part of the storm
cloud is spent, and then the N. W. wind follows; sometimes blowing in
under the storm cloud, turning the rain to snow; but oftener following the
storm within a few hours, or the next day. The storm of Professor Loomis,
when over Texas, was not probably more than four or five hundred miles in
length. As it curved more, and passed north and east, it extended
laterally, its center traveling with most rapidity, and when it reached
the eastern coast was about fifteen hundred miles long, and not more than
six hundred broad. Along the eastern part of that storm, except when by
its more rapid progress the front projected much further eastward over New
England than its previously existing line, the S. E. winds blew. When it
bulged out, so to speak, by reason of the increased progress of the
center, the wind veered to the N. E. The center of the storm passed near
St. Louis and south of Quebec, as the _fall of rain_, the _bulging_ of the
_rapidly-moving center_, and the _line of subsequent cold_, attest. It is
utterly impossible for any unbiased mind to look at the description of
that storm, and attribute to it a rotary character. With all the data
before him, Mr. Redfield himself has not attempted it directly.[8]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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