The Coconino sun., December 01, 1900, Image 4

About The Coconino sun. (Flagstaff, Ariz.) 1898-1978

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
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TUK COCONINO SUN
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ever, the southwesterly winds mean
dry weather and the'sotither'.y lo south
easterly mean clouds and rain, lint
tilt: .shower are local and it cannot lie
told exactly when the, will ocenr.
The winter storms are totally differ
ent. They last for days with little or
no regard for night or day, tliey cover
hundred-, of thousands of square miles
and show an effect on the haromcter
long in advance of the real storm;
they seldom ever havo thunder and
lightning in litem when they do it is
from some temporary local cause: and
lust and most important of all. they
travel across the continent in well do
llned and well known tracks.
In Northern Arizona these storms
aro preceded ly southwesterly or west
erly winds. This is quite different
from tli" ease in the Mississippi valley
and the eastern states where the storm
is preceded hy south to southeast
winds. Tho difference, is perhaps due
to the configuration of the Kooky
Mountains. At any rate we find west
and southwest winds preceding a win
ter sjorm and a north to northeast
wind following it.
In 18!l.i during the months of .lim
itary, Fehruary and Match, I watched
the currents in tho upper atmosphere
on every night In which stars could be
seen. With the regularity almost of
clock work the wind hegim in the
northeast with clear weather; worked
round through north and northwest
to west when clouds began. At south
west it was snowing and when the sky
cleared off tho wind was northeast
again. During those three months
there wuro seven cases in which this
occurred and one case in which snow
failed to appear in tho southwest wind.
Also, the longer tho southwest wind
blew before tho storm, the longer and
heavier was tho storm. This knowl
edge enables 'us to make an estimate
of the probable local weather for a day
or two ahead.
Longer prediction than this must
come from the weather bureau, and
they do it by their knowledge of storm
tracks. They have found by years of
observation that stormscoming in from
the l'acilie Ocean somewhere north of
San Francisco may either cross the
Rockies toward the St. Lawrence val
ley or travel down the coast and pass
to the eastward in our latitude and
disappear. As soon as they lind which
of tlu-o routes It Is going to take they
can predict for the regions toward
which it is moving. Of course the
rale of travel is not alwajs exactly tins
same, and In their predictions they
use the average obtained from years of
observations.
At best, these predictions of indi
vidual storms can be done about a
week In advance, provided thestotm
has already developed on the coast,
longer prediction, especially in Ibis
part of the United Slates, isitnpossible
in the present state of knowledge. No
living man knows whether the coming
winter is to give us much fiiow or lit
tle nor the dates upon which lite
storms will occur, nor is anyj guess
about it of any value. Of course it is
common sense to sa that after several
unusually drv jears we are likely to
have a rainy or snowy one, but as to
whether the wet year is tills or the
next or the one after that, no man can
tell. ' A. B. Douglass
Acker's Dyspepsia Tablets are sold
on a positive guarantee. Cures heart
burn, raising of the fo id, distress after
eating or any form of dspcpia. One
little tablet, gives immediate relief.
2.") cts and fll) cts. V. R. Kd wards,
druggist. ' I
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