Littell's Living Age/Volume 135/Issue 1746/On the Coming Winter
From Nature.
ON THE COMING WINTER.
Having recently computed the remaining observations of our earth-thermometers here, and prepared a new projection of all the observations from their beginning in 1837 to their calamitous close last year, results generally confirmatory of those arrived at in 1870 have been obtained, but with more pointed and immediate bearing on the weather now before us.
The chief features undoubtedly deducible for the past thirty-nine years, after eliminating the more seasonal effects of ordinary summer and winter, are: —
1. Between 1837 and 1876 three great heat-waves, from without, struck this part of the earth; viz., the first in 1846•5, the second in 1858•0, and the third in 1868•7. And unless some very complete alteration in the weather is to take place, the next such visitation may be looked for in 1879•5, within limits of half a year each way.
2. The next feature in magnitude and certainty is, that the periods of minimum temperature, or cold, are not either in, or anywhere near, the middle time between the crests of those three chronologically identified heat-waves, but are comparatively close up to them on either side, at a distance of about a year and a half, so that the next such cold wave is due at the end of the present year.
This is, perhaps, not an agreeable prospect, especially if political agitators are at this time moving amongst the colliers, striving to persuade them to decrease the out-put of coal at every pit's-mouth. Being, therefore, quite willing, for the general good, to suppose myself mistaken, I beg to send you a first impression of plate 17 of the forthcoming volume of observations of this Royal Observatory, and shall be very happy if you can bring out, from the measures recorded there, any more comfortable view for the public at large.
Astronomer-Royal for Scotland.
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, September 27.