Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1896 — THE BROWN SNOW. [ARTICLE]

THE BROWN SNOW.

Chief of the Weather Bureau Explains the Phenomenon. Amateur inicroreb’pfsts wiped the dust from their lenses and proceeded to study the- snow J which spread a slate-colored mantle over the Northwest Tuesday night. After long gazing and much figuring various opinions were reached. Each opinion had a public following until Prof. Willis L. Moore, chief of the weather bureau, sen! a dispatch, from 'Washington presenting bisTricw of what spoiled the snow. Then the audiences of the amateur observers grew smaller. Prof. Moore said: * ‘‘ T h ebl a ;■!;snow tha t has f all enl a t ely in Chicago mid the Northwest is entirely similar to the great fall,of January, 1895, the nature of which was thoroughly investigated by the weather bureau at that time. Microscopic examination proved that the black deposit contained organic structures—such as dintoms and spores—and about G per cent, of the finest possible inorganic matter, such as make up the ordinary fine silt and clay soils. This fine material is easily «itight up by the winds whenever they exceed twenty miles an hour. It may be carried great distances, and it- is • emw or rain. Large portions of the country from Nebraska southward are covered by thia fine soil. A gale of wind has been known to carry away six inches of this fine soil and deposit it ata distance of 100 miles.”