JANUARY, 1898. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 21
as at this station. Lying due west is an extensive ravine about 20 miles long, from the foothills to the Of the range Of
the Continental Divide. Within the confines of this great canyon are three lakes, varying in length from 1 to 3 miles in extent, tile upper
lake being about 1,000 feet above the lower. When n chinook is blow- ing, a billowy ma88 of vapor hangs Over the upper lalie like a great mass of cotton, white, unchanged in form, unvarying in shade, for !ours at a time. It is a very beautiful spectacle ancl is known as the white flag of the chinook.”
Mr. Charles G. F w ~, of Silver Peak, Nev., reports “011 the Zgth, Pogonip all over the valley.”
I n general, the Section Director, Mr. R. F.Young, notes that
an area of high pressure, clear,cold, dry air, with light winds
from the north, prevailed throughout the month, with more
frost than usual. These are the conditions that favor the
Pogonip, which is a mist of ice crystals or frozen fog and
very injurious to the health of men and animals. Some re-
marks on the Pogonip will be found in the MONTHLP WEATHER
REVIEW for February, 1894, Vol. XXII, page 77. We should
be glad to publish a special study of the Pogonip in any one
of the valleys of Nevada.
ARKANSAS.
The detailed report of the Fort Smith tornado and that of
the Crawford County tornado will be found in the January
report of the Arkansas Section.
NEVADA.
NEW ENQLAND.
A detailed account of the Snowstorm and resulting dam-
age in New Engla1ld on the 25-26th and on the 31St will
found in the rePQrt of the New England Section. The b h -
zard of JalluarY 31-FebruarY 1 was comparable with that of
March, 1888, and December, 1872, and January, 1867.
MARYLAND.
The report of the bIaryland and Delaware section gives an
take up profitable lines of research bearing upon the physi-
ography, climatology, hydrography, forestry, and crops of that
State. The work will be done in cooperation with the United
sions of the United States Department of Agriculture. The
problems to be first taken in hand will be “ The influence of
Chesapeake B~~ and of the mountains of ~~~asllington County
upon the crops in their respective vicinities. F~~~~ series of
three special tations each will be established, reaching from
the water,B e ge of Chesapeake Bay inland, and the twelve stations will represent the soils devoted to garden truck,
wheat, corn, and fruit. Eight or more stations will also be
established in Washington County a t different elevations
upon the mountain slopes, representing the upper and lower
limits of successful cultivation of peaches. Observations of
the temperatlzre and moisture of the soil will be lnade in
tion to the meteorological observations.”
One can but hope that important economical results will flow from this notable effort on the part of Professor Clark
of agricultural investigation. Studies of a general character
in this matter of the relations between clilnate and crops
have been taken up by isolated agricultural experilnent
tions, and pretty niuch all that was known on the subject ten
years ago was collected by the Editor in his report of June
1891. The present investigation by Professor clarh- is 1111-
the most extensive that has yet been undertaken
by any State or Government.
account of the establishment of twenty special stations by
the Maryland State Weather Service, which is now enabled to
States &o]ogical Survey and t,he varions bureaus and divi-
%
and the State legislature to thus extend the work of the State
service from the mere field of observation Over into the field
TENNESSEE.
I n the report of the Tennessee section Mr. H. C. Bate, sec-
tion director, states that he has on hand a number of the
earlier copies of these reports and other publications which
will enable hi111 to s11pply Inissilig nuniI>ers to those w]]o de-
sire to complete their sets. We are sure that I ~~R I I Y st11dents
of climatology, in forrigli countjries as me11 as i n the United
States, 11 i l l gladly avail theniselves of thi8 offer.
----
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SPECIAL SNOWFALL BULLETINS.
A year ngo Mr. Brnndenburg, director of the Colorado State
section of the Climate aud Crop Service, initiated a xysteiii of
Ppecial reports on the snowfall, which was found very useful in
forecasting the quantity of water that became available for
irrigation when tlie snow melted. \Ye take pleamre in noting
the fact that RIr. Blythe, i n charge uf the Arizona section,
has published a siinilar special snow bulletin for that State.
A t the close of January there was more snow than usual still
remaining on tlie ground a t many Rtations, while others re-
ported that, al though tlie snow had disappeared, yet the
ground waR thoroughly soaked, and the cold weather had
caused the retention of an unnsual quantity of water in the
soil, so that, on the whole, there was a good prospect of an
nbuiidance of water for agricultural purposes.
-0- - __
THE ALMANACS AND THE WEATHER BUREAU.
During the past few months the Editor has noticed a num-
her of newspaper paragraphs discussing the relative merits
of the weather predictions published daily by the officials of
the Weather Bureau for one or two days i n advance, and
those puhlishecl by the numerous “ farmers’ almnnacs,” p h -
lished several months, or even a year, in advance, and sold
in large numbers throughout the country. The predictions
of the weather. as made by the %’eather Bureau, are baeed
entirely upon the daily maps that show the actual condition
of the atmosphere, as reported by reliable observers through-
‘lnong which are the following:
’. most conservative and are those
that ColnPile from the records of many past years a table
On the resl’ective days Of the year.
2. The least rational almanacs are those that pretend that
the weather is controlled by planetary comlinations and stel-
lar influences, therefore, such predictions are properly said
to be
3. An intermediate class publishes predictions based upon
the Probability of spots on the sun, thereby assliming it to have been demonstrated that the solar spots control terres-
4. The least scientific aystein of preparing the almanac
predictions was explained to the Editor many years ago by a
gentleman whose almanac macle the greatest pretentions to
high scientific accuracy. This gentleman stated that on cer-
tain days lie felt endowed with a certain ability or inepira-
tioq. These were his weather making days, on which he sat
tinuing a t tlie work for a considerable time until the inspir-
ation seemed to leave him, whereupon lie necessarily stopped
ancl delayed resuming the work until again filled with the
spirit Of divination*
Doubtless some alnianac makers adopt a co~nl~ination of
the four preceding methods but, in general, these seem to be
the principles most widely recognized in tlie long-range pre-
dictions of the almanacs, except only that in all cases the
authors make free use of a system of general and rather in-
definite terms that will apply just as well t u a thunderstorm
Out the
various
On the Other ’land, the Predictions the
are founded 'pori a variety Of principles
shoWi17g Of weather has Prevailed most freqUelItlY
"pori
weather.
don111 and with the nlost absolute collfidence in the accuracy of his Wrote ‘P the weather for the corning Year, con-
a hurricane, or an earthquake. The warning “ look out
something very unusual about this time ” is, of course,