Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/297

Rh It is a wind from the sea, and whether it comes as the gentle, welcome sea-breeze of summer or as the sea-turn due to the advancing cyclone from the west, it is still a recognizable ocean wind. Such winds are regarded in most lands with favor. Why then, do we, of the eastern states, hold it in ill repute? At Athens, the east wind, the wind from the sea—the Apheliotes of the Tower—is typified by a young man with hair flowing in every direction. The youth has a fine open countenance and holds with both hands the skirts of his mantle which is filled with fruits and flowers. Along the shores of the Ægean, tillers of the soil, prone to take the weather an-cha-Allah (as Allah wills), bow when the east wind blows, echoing the words of one Dervish Mustapha in his greeting

On the Atlantic coast, as elsewhere in the United States, the prevailing winds are westerly. In fact the general movement of the surface air in temperate northern latitudes is from west to east. It is interesting and perhaps worth while to speculate on the climatic changes which would occur if the prevailing flow of air were reversed and the surface current moved from east to west. Then the east wind, the Apheliotes Nov. Ang. would become the prevalent wind. It would not be as now, a shallow intermittent current, but would extend to some height. The Atlantic states would have a balmy, equable climate, with occasional storms from the sea preceded by west winds, rather dry, and followed by moderate east winds and showers. The climate would be like that of Bermuda. East of the Mississippi there would be fewer hot spells, likewise fewer freezes. The cold wave which now follows the "low" would be unknown. The climate of the country west of the Rocky Mountains, however, would be rigorous. Temperature changes would be pronounced on the Pacific coast.

Let us examine now the records of the flow of the air from sea to land and from land to sea, at different levels, as shown by the Blue Hill records. Owing to the sensitiveness of the instruments and the open character of the scales employed, also because there has been no change in exposure or methods, the data are thoroughly comparable and in themselves constitute a unique and valuable contribution to American ærology. It is doubtful if at any other station in our country records of wind direction and velocity are so detailed and complete. Checked by numerous experiments with kites and balloons, the records show that there is twice as much wind from the west as from the east. This will surprise many, for the impression is widespread that the climate of the Atlantic seaboard, is determined primarily by the east wind. On the contrary, west winds dominate and control both by duration and velocity. The indictment may seem somewhat sweeping; but so far as we can at present determine, the