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Show NO SAHARA IN DUST AREAS , Despite the Saharalike atmosphere they create, the spectacular western dust storms of 1931 and 1935 are not a sign that part of the United States is turning into a vast permanent desert, according' to Dr. J. W. Humphreys, of the weather bureau. The appearance on this continent of an expanse ex-panse of unproductive, drifting sand, like that of the eastern hemisphere, Dr. Humphreys says, would call for a complete change in climate on the order of the one that, centuries ago, gave northern Africa its great desert. That change occurred through countless ages as the Kurope of today slowly emerged from the ice cap which, for other countless ages, had covered it. With the ice melting beneath their northern range, the air currents that govern the earth's weather were shunted into new paths, altering Africa's climate. But no such climatic change is imminent in North America, Dr. Humphreys points out, so long as the frozen north remains frozen. Probably the ice there will melt some day but he doean't think it will happen for at least 5,000 or possibly 10,000 years. But unless it rains in the meantime, he warns that the dust storms may continue until the season of strong gales ends, which is commonly about June 1. A common belief is that these dust storms are a new hazard to the welfare of our country. But dust storms in the United States are nothing new. The west lias always had them. However, until the last two years they have been more or less local. o |
