THE SUN AND THE ATMOSPHERE — STETSON 



167 



cerned, it is to be expected that such changes would ultimately give 

 rise to the formation of storms and the storm tracks resulting. One 

 of the difficulties in establishing any intimate connection between 

 weather and sunspots is that our observations of weather tend to be 

 very local. 



If one averages weather conditions over the entire globe, as, for 

 example, comparing the average rainfall record at observing stations 

 throughout the world, one might expect at first thought to find some 

 relation with sunspots, assuming that sunspots have anything to do 

 with weather phenomena. Such, however, is far from the case. 

 A storm in one region of the globe means clear weather elsewhere, for 

 a region of low pressure presupposes a region of high pressure adjacent. 

 Similarly, excessive rainfall in a given locality in a given year will 

 usually be offset by one of extreme dryness occurring elsewhere. To 



'1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 



Figure 5. — Clayton's prediction of temperatures at New Haven, Conn., based on 68-year period. 



average together such effects will obviously lead to no definite conclu- 

 sion. Furthermore, since storms travel over more or less defined 

 tracks, the migration of these storm centers makes it impossible to get 

 significant results from hundreds of stations scattered from the polar 

 regions to the Equator. If progress is to be made, it will come 

 through a consciousness of the distribution of weather as a whole over 

 the entire globe. For a more accurate picture of world weather, 

 indications for weather in a given locality at a given time may be 

 more easily estimated. 



Mr. H. H. Clayton, of Canton, Mass., a well-known scientist who 

 has spent many long years in weather bureau service, is a firm believer 

 that changes in the sun are accompanied by fundamental changes in 

 the earth's atmosphere. He appears to have found very definite 

 indications that changes in the earth's atmosphere in different parts 

 of the world accompany the changes in solar activity attendant upon 

 the solar cycle, in which we can be sure Dr. Abbot would concur. 



