648 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1900
MATHEMATIUS IN METEOROLdaY.
The magnificent mathematical work on the motions of thc
atmosphere, by Prof. F. H. Bigelow, published in the second
volume of the Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau
for 189t3-99, and the similar studies by other eminent mathe.
matical physicists, such as those by Diro Kitao, of the Agri-
cultural College in Tokio, by von Bezold and von Helmholtz
in Berlin, Margules in Vienna! Hertz of Kiel, Oberbeck at
Tubingen, Guldberg, and Mohn a t Christiania, and Ferrel at
Washington, must impress every student of meteorology with
the desire to master the mathematical methods that have led
to these brilliant results. It is impossible to confine meteoro-
logy to mere observation, telegraphy, and charting. Even
the observational exploration of the upper air by kites and
balloone and by the study of the clouds does not wholly re-
spond to the demands of the situation. Back of the facts
there must be reasons why, and these laws constitute meteoro-
logy. The forecaster stands in the presence of a complex problem in mechanic8 that must be solved by the methods
introduced into the study of mechanics by Sir Isaac Newton
and developed by a host of devoted experts, such as Poisson,
Laplace, Jacobi, Lagranpe, Maxwell, Helmholtz, and such
living authorities as H. Poincarb, Kelvin, Klein, Rayleigh,
J. J. Thomson, Heaviside, and others too numerous to men-
tion. In the October number of the MONTHLY WEATHER RE-
VIEW we have recently published a paper by Prof. V. Bjerknes
that presents one of the simplest problems in a manner that
is as elementary as is any may possible, consisteut with the
exact discussion of the subject ; but in the application of his
ideas, and especially in an effort to understand their rationale,
one has to call to mind mathematical formulz that are only
found in the higher text-books of mechanics and mathemat-
ical physics. Although the majority of the readers of the
MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW will look askance a t these for-
mulre and wonder if they are really necessary or merely a
pedantic show of learning, yet, those who have any true coni-
prehension of the problems will recognize that they can not
be dispensed with, and that those to whom they. seem incom-
prehensible must study the higher mathematics i f they in-
tend to keep up with the highest progress in our science.
About 1877 the Editor translated a number of short memoirs
that will be found in the Report of the Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution intending them as a guide and con-
venience to American students. I n 1891 he prepared another
collection of translations, published also by the Smithsonian
Institution as The Mechanics of the Earth’s Atmosphere.
There are many more papers of great value still awaiting
publication. All this has been done that American students
might be left without excuse if they neglect the fundamental
study of the atmosphere. The Editor’s hope has been that
the seed thus sown would in some few cases fall upon good
ground ; that some universities would give mathematical
meteorology as prominent a place as they do mathematical
astronomy ; that some professors and students would take up
the subject in earnest, and that Aniericans contributing to
these higher studies might achieve equal distinction with that
attained in ohservational work and in practical forecasts.
These publications must be looked upon as paving the way
for the meteorology of the future, when it will be as much supe-
rior to that of the present as the present astronomy is supe-
rior to that existing hefore Newton’s day.
A friend has lately expressed the desire that the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW should publish a series of articles explain-
ing what mathematical and physical training is required if a man would fit himself to become a working meteorologist.
Probably, by working meteorologist is meant an observer
and forecaster, and, therefore, the reply must be that he
should understand the sources of error of his instruments
and the methods of investigating their errors. This implies
pretty much everything that is taught in the undergraduate
courses of schools of science as to algebra, plane and solid
geometry, plane and solid trigonometry, theory of errors,
mechanics of solids and fluids. If now this working meteoro-
logist and forecaster is to understand the errors of distortion
on the maps and charts of the world that he has to use in-
stead of a sphere, then, he must understand projections. If
he is to understand and interpret the phenomena of the rain-
bow, the halo, etc., he must study optics or the theory of light.
If he is to understand the action of moisture in the atmos- phere and the formation of rain, snow, and hail, he milst con-
quer thermodynamics. If he is to understand the motions
of the atmosphere he must study hydrodynamics and the
theory of equations.
Now all these niatters are taught in all first-class schools of
engineering, so that the difficult science of meteorology requires
but little more fundaniental learning than is required of elec-
trical or hydraulic or steam engineers, but i t certainly requires
every bit of that. One may study these subjects year after
year while supporting himself by his regular work on station,
but of course i t is better to have acquired them in college
beforehand. It is not to be supposed that many will have
the intellectual gifts requisite for this work, but no one can
tell heforehand to how high a degree he may attain by per-
sistent work. Professor Ferrel’s life was one continuous
study and advance. Attack the problem and you will succeed
in proportion to the earnestuess of your attack. The success-
fnl man is the one who perseveres.
A MEMORABLE STORM OF SLEET AND SNOW.
We publish on Plate I, figs. 1 and 2, two half-tones from
photographs kindly furnished by R. G. Allen, Section Direc-
tor, Itliaca, N. Y., illustrating the great damage done on Nov-
ember 22-21 in the highlands of western New York by the
heavy fall of snow and sleet. On this point the Herald, of Haniniond por t , says :
The falling moisture clung to and froze fast upon everything. Nearly every fruit orchard was more or less damaged, and some were totally ruined. Thousands of trees were either uprooted or thoroughly stripped of branches. Whole tracts of forest were similarly affected, in many instancesbeing crushedto theground, * * * Fruit treesof almost every description were more or less damaged. Young orchards escaped with slight injury, from the fact that the weight bent the trees
to the ground, thus saving them. It is said that one and one-half inches of ire formed on every twig and branch of the trees. This will give a faint idea of the immense weight. One man says that in a tract of second Srowth hickory and white oak from thirty to fifty feet tall, the trees were bent entirely over, the tops resting on the ground. When the 3un loosened the ice many sprung back, but portions of them were splintered and ruined. The drippings from pine boughs formed in many instances complete thatched roofs. Pine timber was, therefore, less injured than others, from the fact that all of the pine boughs were so closely bound together that the weight was more equally dis- tributed. One of the strange sights of the effects of the storm was that upon wire fences. In many cases they were one solid sheet of ice, with xarcely a crevice large enough for a field bird to penetrate. ‘l’he amount of damage can hardly be estimated bnt it will be immense at the best. In the memory of the oldest inhabitant nothing like it has ever been known in this region. The result will be a great scarcity of spples and other fruit for years to come in the region thus affected.
HURRICANES AT CHARLESTON, S. 0.
I n a review of the past century published in the Charleston,
5. C., News and Courier, of January 1, 1901, there is given a
:atalogue of the various hurricanes and other meteorological
svents of interest, from which we take the following dates:
DECEMBER, 1900. MONTELY WEATHER REVIEW. 649
1752.-The most dreadful hurricane.
1783.-A hurricane of much less violence.
1804, September 7.-A hurricane and high water that did
great damage.
December, 181 1-February, 1812.-A series of earthquakes
producing much alarm, but no great damage.
1813, August 27.-A fearful hurricane, doing great damage ;
the water rose 18 inches higher than in the cor-
responding gale of 1804.
1822, September 27.-Destructive hurricane.
1854, September 7.-Violent gale.
1875, September 28.-Severe gale.
1886.-Destructive hurricane.
1886, August 31.-Fearful earthquake.
1893, August 27-8.-0ne of the most destructive hurricanes.
The paths of West Indian hurricanes, iiicluding those that
sometimes develop in the Gulf of Mexico, are liable to strike
any point of the Gulf or south Atlantic coasts. On the aver-
age, there muet be three or four hundred such storms in every
century, and if these were distributed uniformly along this
stretch of coast, 3,000 miles in length, we should have an
average of one per century for every 100 miles. But the
coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina have
probably twice as many of these storms per square mile per century as occur on other portions of these coasts. When
we go farther north, into the Middle States, New England?
and the Lake region, there are few hnrricanes, but the num-
ber of severe storms is much larger, owing to the fact that
we have here another type of storm, viz, that which passes
from the Pacific coast eastward toward Newfoundland.
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HIGH TIDES AND APPROAUHING STORMS.
Mr. F. Napier Dennison who is now living in Victoria, B. C.,
in a recent letter says:
I am getting most interesting records from my hydroaerograph records, especially before certain types of storms, as well as the second- ary undulations. I often observe abnormally high tides before some of the great Pacific storms strike our coast.
CUMULUS CLOUDS ABOVE FIRES.
Referring to the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW, October, 1900,
page 433, Mr. R. M. Hoskinson, Voluntary Observer a t Way-
cross, Ware County, Ga., under date of January 18, says:
During a residence of twelve years i n Osage County, Kans,, I have often seen the densesmoke rising from t h e burnt grass ascend in cluud- like forms. The tops of some of these show white, like cumulusclouds. I n order to be seen thus, the observer must be quite a distance away- a half mile or more-standing with his back to t h e sun.
Mr. H. H. Ten Broeck of Braidentown, Pla., under date of
January 7, 1901, says:
I have often seen columns of smoke capped by cumulus clouds; this has always been when there was little or no wind, t h e smoke ascend- ing nearly vertically. I have seen them on t h e prairies of Minnesota and other regions. A few days ago I saw the greatest development. A large brush fire was burningsomethree miles off, sending up a dense column of smoke, almost vertical. On the top of the column was a
mass of cumulus cloud with its peculiar dense convolutions, and blend- ing below with the smoke. Smoke clouds never show the pure brilliant white that cumulus clouds do and they are of a different texture, too, so that i t is impossible to mistake one forthe other. I have not the least
doubt, therefore, but that Mr. Mitchell is right in reporting a cumulus cloud on t h e smoke of the fire at Bsyonne, N. J.
LIGHTNING WITHOUT THUNDER.
Under date of January 17, 1901, Mr. Ten Broeck, of Braid-
sntown, Fla., says:
On page 429 of the REVIEW for October, you publish some observa- tions on lightning without clouds. I have known of li htning without thunder. A house next door was struck; I saw a blinfing flash simul- taneous with a splitting sound and waited for the crash of thunder, which did not come. The house, which was about 20 feet from the one I was in, wasstruck on the peak of the roof. The discharge followed the shingles about halfway to t h e eaves, splitting them up; it then turned and went over the gable and into the house, and so on down to the cellar, stunning the occupants, but not doing much damage.
the street during a thunderstorm; there was a bright flash, accompanie! by a rumbling noise, as he was passing a house, but no thunder. On looking to find the cause of the peculiar sound, he saw that the chim- ney had been struck and knocked to pieces, the bricks falling on the roof made the rumbling noise that had attracted his attention; but he was astonished that there was no thunder.
A friend told me he had a similar experience. He was going alon
AZTEC NAMES AND THEIR PRONUNCIATION.
Messrs. F. P. Hoeck & Company, of the City of Mexico,
writing to the Chief of Bureau in reference to the spelling
and pronunciation of the names of the two fhmous volcanoes
Popoca-teptetl and Iztac-cihuatal say:
Each word is two words in itself, and in pronouncin them it should be born in mind that the first word, Popow, is accentea on the second syllable (po); the second word, t&pelZ, is accented on the first syllable
(Is or lay). Izzlac is accented on the second syllable (l a c or tak); cihuatl is accented on the first syllable (ea' or see); hu has the sound of w, or rather is the equivalent of w in English.
The above spellings are as promulgated by the Board on
Geographic Names, in their last report. But this is the first
time that we have seen any authoritative statement as to the
proper pronunciation.
- REDUCTION OF THE BAROMETER TO STANDARD
(3RAVITY.
A t the International Meteorological Conference a t Munich
in 1891 the following resolution was nnanimonsly passed :
It is recommended to all meteorologists to publish barometric read- ings reduced to normal gravity as soon as possible, starting from the 1st of January, 1901; moreover, in all tables and charts it should be speci- fically stated that this correction has been applied. At t h e head of the tables the adopted value of the reduction to normal gravity-should be given in such a manner that one can recognize it immediately with an error not greater than one-tenth millimeter
The Weather Bureau, after many years of argumentation
pro and con, adopted the reduction to standard gravity in
1885, but gave i t up in 1886, through the mistake and oppo-
sition of one person. On January 1, 1899, as has been already
announced in the MONTHLY WEATEER REVIEW (see December,
1898, page 550), theuse of this important reduction again began
and will, doubtless, continue hereafter in accordance with the
urgent resolutions of the various meteorological congresses.
The readers of the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW scarcely need
to be reminded that the aneroid barometer is not affected by
the variations of gravity, while the standard mercurial
barometer is so affected. The meteorological committee of the International Con-
gress, in its recent meeting a t Paris, adopted the following
resolutions for the guidance of the international cooperating
meteorological services:
1. Beginning with January I, 1901, and for all stations whose observa- tions are transmitted by telegraph to the central services, the barometric readings should always be reduced to standard gravity. 2. I n published tables of observations i t will be indicated whether