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
Nor is the magnetic intensity on the eastern and middle portions of the
Pacific, sufficient to produce such a concentration, in large volume,
there. The trades over that ocean, therefore, curve without concentration,
except a partial one, over the western groups of Polynesia, which the
Asiatic line of magnetic intensity approaches and where hurricanes are
sometimes found, until we arrive near the eastern line of magnetic
intensity, on the eastern side of Asia. We shall, hereafter, have occasion
to follow the anomalous concentrated volumes of the S. E. counter-trade,
of the northern tropic, on the western side of the great oceans, in
explanation of some of the phenomena which we find north of the trade-wind
region. Suffice it here to add, that if it were not for the concentration
of these counter-trades, on the western side of the great oceans, the
rainless region between the parallels of 20 deg. and 30 deg. would encircle the
earth; and China and the Eastern United States would have a distinctly
marked rainy and dry season, as have California, the Barbary States,
Syria, Persia, and other countries which lie north of the rainless region,
within the summer range of the N. E. trades, but also within the winter
descending range of the belt of extra-tropical rains.
Another anomaly which we find in the trade-wind region, is the monsoon.
There are several of them, but they are found, in the greatest strength
and regularity, in the Indian Ocean. Another, defined by the
investigations of Maury, is found on the west coast of Africa, extending
out over the Atlantic. Another prevails on the western coast of South and
Central America. The etesian winds of the Mediterranean are but the N. E.
trades, whose northern limit is carried up in summer, by the transit of
the connected machinery, to the north, over that sea. The N. E. and S. E.
monsoons, so called, of the Indian Ocean, are but the regular trades,
blowing when the belt of rains is absent, as they do all over the globe.
The N. W. monsoon, south of the equator, in the vicinity of New Holland;
the S. W. monsoon which blows from the Arabian Sea, in upon Hindoostan;
the S. W. monsoon of the Atlantic, south of the Cape De Verde Islands; and
the variable west monsoon winds of the west coast of Southern and Central
America, and Southern Mexico (known under several different names, but
chiefly by that of Tapayaguas), are all that deserve attention as such.
At first sight they appear to be anomalies, but the facts declare their
character with perfect certainty. First, they are not continuous, like the
trades, but _prevailing_ winds, and are _storm winds_; _they always blow
toward a region_, _or portion of the ocean_, _covered at the time by
clouds and falling weather_.
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