Weather Man Unable To Give Basic Causes of Unusually Severe Winter

When the snow piles up 18 inches under foot and the wind howls incessantly with almost gale-like velocity, what explanation has the Weather Bureau to offer? Why has this been the most severe winter in years? Is it a sign of the approach of another ice ago or merely an accident which may be expected periodically?

Such questions as these the Weather Bureau has been trying to answer over since its inception. As yet it has met with little success. George II. Noyes '97, senior meteorologist of the Boston office of the United States Weather Bureau, can trace the path of a storm with surprising accuracy but is forced to confess ignorance when asked why this winter has been so unusually severe. However, it is interesting to delve into the history of an individual storm such as the blizzard which has plagued Bostonians yesterday and today.

According to Mr. Noyes, this latest storm originated, in Texas as a "cyclonic disturbance" caused by the mixture of the cold air from the north and the southern warm air. Following the path usually taken by such pressure areas, the cyclone passed over Georgia resulting in much damage of property and loss of life. Travelling up the coast, the gale collected moisture from the ocean. This vapor rose into the upper strata of the air and congealed there, at a temperature of 30 or 50 degrees below zero.

At three o'clock yesterday afternoon the storm center passed over Long Island; about three hours later it was in the neighborhood of Boston. Yesterday this wind brought show to regions extending from Memphis, Tennessee to Halifax. In some parts of Maine and in the White Mountains there are huge drifts nine and ten feet deep. Of course, the real damage caused by this snow will not manifest itself until next spring.

In general, these cold waves are not due to the presence of icebergs as some people would have us believe. As a matter of fact, the arctic region does travel southward during the winter but this has very little part in producing these frigid temperatures we are experiencing. At a height of eight or nine miles above the surface of the earth the temperature is about thirty degrees below zero.