Dry weather

“ Ordinarily, the air which may be at the dewpoint at daylight becomes relatively dry at midday because its higher temperature gives it what is popularly termed “a greater capacity for moisture.” But if the relative humidity remains high in the middle of the day it is evident that the absolute humidity has increased, and unsettled weather may be expected. ”

“ These springs are not what are known as surface springs—that is, the residue of a former exceptionally wet season, issuing from the foot of some well-soaked hill or ridge—but strong volumes of water that vary not in any season, totally unaffected by drought; in fact, running stronger during dry weather. ”

“ After a continuance of dry weather, if the barometer begins to fall slowly and steadily, rain will certainly ensue; but if the fine weather has been of long duration, and the mercury may fall for two or three days before any perceptible change takes place; the more time elapses before the rain comes, the longer the wet weather is likely to last. ”

“ In spring and autumn a sudden fall indicates rain; in the summer, if very hot, it foretells a storm. In the winter, after a period of steady frost, a fall prognosticates a change of wind with rain and hail; whilst a rise announces the approach of snow.
6. Rapid oscillations of the mercury either way are not to be interpreted as indicating either wet or dry weather of any duration; continuance of either fair or foul weather is forecast only by a prolonged and steady rise or fall beforehand. ”

“ Fashion has attention in advance; death none till at the door.
Now the southern line of the extra-tropical belt of rains descends upon those who, living between the areas of magnetic intensity, have a dry season; and the focus of precipitation in that belt descends every where. “Winter no come till swamps full,” the Indians told our fathers, and there is truth in the remark; although like other general truths respecting the weather, it is not always so in our climate. ”

“ A rise in the dew-point from morning to noon will be followed by rain: a fall by fine weather.
The evening dew-point generally determines the mean temperature of the night. If, therefore, this be ascertained, the approach of low temperature or of a frost at night may be seen and provided against.
A high evening dew-point indicates, if the dry bulb does not fall much, that the next day will probably be warm, but a high evening dew-point with a chilly air and a S.W. wind is rather a presage of rain. ”

“ If easterly winds predominate in spring largely above the average, the summer is likely to be characterised by S.W. winds with much rain and moisture, and little sunshine. If easterly winds nearly fail in spring, they are likely to prevail in summer, and the summer will be characterised by clear skies, and dry warm bracing weather, with much sunshine. ”

“ Remembering, then, the differences in the normal conditions of the seasons and months, and the different characters that the winds, and storms, and clouds, and other phenomena bear in them respectively, let us now look at the signs of foul or fair weather not herein before fully stated, upon which practical reliance may be placed.
In the first place, we must look to the forming condensation. There are many days when the [Pg 368] atmosphere is without visible clouds, but few when it is entirely without condensation. Such days are seen during the dry season in the trade-wind region ”

“ These winds consist of air greatly cooled by the evaporation of the ice and snow over which it passes, and as they become warmer by their contact with the earth of this climate are capable of dissolving more moisture as they pass along, and are thence attended with frosts in winter and with dry hot weather in summer. ”

“ Rain storms are preceded from twelve to forty-eight hours by barometer falling steadily, increasing humidity, high temperature, with wind east or south, cirro-stratus clouds in southern or western horizon, and eastern horizon obscured by haze.
Red sky at sunrise indicates strong winds; if humidity is much below the mean, the color is usually a brilliant scarlet; if humidity is high, the color is more crimson, with a purple tinge and rain follows. When wind backs from northwest to southwest, clear weather follows. ”

“ It falls with the south and south-west, and rises with the north and north-west winds.
The quantity of water which falls in rain and snow, one year with another, amounts to from 24 to 36 inches. But to complete the account of variable qualities in the climate, it will be necessary to add, that our summers and autumns are sometimes marked by a deficiency, and sometimes by an excessive quantity of rain. The summer and autumn of 1782 were uncommonly dry. ”

“ The dead-flat expanse of the Northern plains is unbroken by the most insignificant of mounds; on the other hand, in the hills it is almost impossible to find ten yards of level ground. In the same way during the dry season you know with absolute certainty that there will be no rain; whilst during the rains you can predict, without the faintest shadow of doubt, that the downpour will continue day by day. Personally, I prefer whisky and water mixed. ”

“ The air, during the dry season of the year—seven to nine months—is devoid of moisture; the regular northwest trade winds are robbed of all moisture while passing over the snow mountains, where it is condensed and falls as snow ”

“ As the sun rises from day to day, week after week, and month after month, in unclouded brightness during the dry season, and pours down his unbroken rays on the dry, unprotected surface of the country, the heat becomes so much greater inland than it is on the ocean, that an under-current of cold air, bringing the fog with it, rushes over the coast-range of hills, and through their numerous passes, towards the interior. ”

“ Rapidly falling barometer, rising temperature, and light southerly winds indicate rain or snow, according to season of year.
Falling barometer, rising temperature, with wind from northeast or east, indicate snow.
Fine cirrus and cirro-stratus, floating low, presage wind.
Haze in night or early morning, or cumulus clouds, sharp and well defined, moving from west or southwest, indicate fair weather.
When snow is falling, and the wind backs from east to north, with decreasing velocity, clear weather may be expected. ”

“ The excessive heat and humidity which has been killing you off by inches and other people by wholesale for weeks will suddenly vanish before a cool, dry northwester, a gladsome reminder to the New Englander that there is such a thing as winter after all ”

“ The water being cold makes the pitcher cold, and as the warm air of the room strikes it, a moisture like dew is left on the pitcher, in the same manner as dew is left on grass, leaves, and flowers.
In cold weather, when the dew gathers on plants and flowers, it sometimes freezes and forms frost, and when the clouds throw off their moisture in rain drops, the rain becomes sleet, hail, or snow.
So you see that dew, rain, frost, sleet, snow, and hail are only different forms of water.
LESSON XXVI.
treas'ure, a large quantity of money ”

“ Misty clouds, forming or hanging on heights, show wind and rain coming, if they remain, increase, or descend; if they rise or disperse, the weather will improve or become fine.
RAIN. The atmosphere at a given temperature is capable of retaining only a given quantity of aqueous vapour, invisibly diffused through it, at which temperature it is said to be saturated. Should the temperature from any cause be lowered, the aqueous vapour at once becomes visible in the form of either cloud, dew, rain, snow, or hail. ”

“ But the warm winds, creeping up the sides of the valleys, the walls of which become heated during the middle of the day, come laden with moisture which is changed to a dry snow like dust as soon as it comes into contact with the intense cold above. ”

“ Not unfrequently in a moist summer season, after a day of showers or rain, which have had an extending formation or lateral extension from north to south, it will commence blowing in the morning, and encourage the hay-maker with the hope of fine weather. ”

“ During the whole of the dry season, scarcely ever more than three days or a week passes without a slight thunderstorm and heavy shower, which comes on about four in the afternoon, and by six has cleared off again, leaving the atmosphere delightfully pure and cool, and all vegetable and animal life refreshed and invigorated. ”

“ If it depended upon chance whether the dry air should come out on this side or on that of this calm belt, or whether the moist air should return or not whence it came—if such were the case in nature, we perceive that, so far from any regularity as to seasons, we should have, or might have, years of drought the most excessive, and then again seasons of rains the most destructive ”

“ In the summer season, most commonly of any, the air becomes hot and dry. The surface of the Earth loses the moisture of the air’s influence, together with the Sun’s heat evaporating the dampness, becomes generally arid, and fails thereby to be a conductor of the moisture from below.
As a season of very dry atmosphere occurs for months at times, the soil becomes correspondingly dry and dusty to quite a depth. From this cause the springs and water in wells recede and sink away. ”

“ This is what in Scripture is termed the early or the former rain. Showers continue to fall at uncertain intervals, with some cloudy but more fair weather, till toward the vernal equinox, when they become again more frequent and copious till the middle of April. These are the latter rains, Joel ii, 23. From this time to the end of May, showers come on at irregular intervals, gradually decreasing as the season advances; the sky being for the most part serene, and the temperature of the air agreeable, though sometimes acquiring a high degree of heat. ”

“ The snow would, however, thaw with the warmth of the sun, and so restore the temperature as before. The bracing quality of the climate mostly consists just in those variations of cool nights and warm days, and the occasional days of comparatively cold, boisterous weather. ”

“ The water absorbs heat during the summer, which it slowly gives off on the approach of cold weather, warming the atmosphere in its vicinity, and preventing the occurrence of early frosts in the fall along the shore-border from five to ten miles wide. ”

“ Another weather type, often noted during our winter in the central and eastern United States, and strongly contrasted with both of the preceding conditions, is that which brings us a warm, damp, southerly wind, frequently accompanied by heavy rains. As these damp winds blow over snow-covered surfaces they become foggy and the ground is said to “smoke”; the heavy rain rapidly melts the snow; slush and mud make bad walking; rivers and brooks rise rapidly, perhaps overflowing their banks; low-lying places become filled with standing water. ”

“ In time of a drought it is true that the indications which at ordinary times would be surely followed by a rain are of no value. [Pg 114] When a season is once established, either as a rainy season or a dry season, it is likely to persist in this character until a change comes that is produced by the movement of the sun in its course northerly and southerly, and the change produced from this cause requires several weeks of time. ”

“ Snow seldom falls to any great depth on the lowlands, though it comes in glorious abundance on the mountains. And only on the mountains does the temperature fall much below the freezing point. In the warmest summer weather a temperature of eighty-five degrees or even more occasionally is reached, but not for long at a time, as such heat is speedily followed by a breeze from the sea. ”

“ During the winter period when the prevailing winds are from the north, large areas of the mountainous regions are covered with snow, but when the winds change and come from the south, and particularly during the warmer weather, the moist warm air raises the general temperature and also melts much of the snow on the mountain tracts. ”

“ Hence a gray morning sky implies a dry atmosphere above the dew droplets, and, therefore, justifies the expectation of a fair day, or even a clear one, for the droplets themselves to which the gray is due are soon evaporated by the rising sun, and convection, in this case, because it mixes the moist lower with a dry upper air, seldom causes precipitation. ”

“ We shall now give the prognostics due to the variations in some detail, Fig. 5. The sky being generally clear and the air calm, the temperature is high in the day and low at night. In summer brilliant sun 20shine prevails during the day, and at night there is heavy dew, and in low-lying places mist.
Heavy dews in hot weather indicate a continuance of fair weather, and no dew after a hot day foretells rain.
If mist rises in low ground and soon vanish, expect fair weather. ”

“ As we progress towards the interior the wet season appears to have been of less duration and the fall of rain less, yet the great heat has forced the vegetation towards maturity, and many of the grasses have already ripened their seeds, while there are many other indications of the dry season having fairly set in; the wind is steadily from the south and south-east, and is very dry ”

“ It is not heat and cold, but wet and dry, which mark the seasons, and the winter months, instead of killing vegetation, revive it. The dry season makes a period of consecutive drought, the only winter in the vegetation of this country, which can hardly be said at any time to cease. ”

“ This succession of the seasons is as regular and distinct as our winter and summer. The effect of the long dry season corresponds in some respects to our winter, giving vegetation a rest. Europeans delight in the dry season, although towards the last they long for the rain. ”

“ A negative instance is exhibited in weather by its coldness with an east or north wind, beyond what the season would lead us to expect, just as the contrary takes place with the south or west winds. An inclination to rain (especially in winter) attends warm weather, and to frost cold weather. ”