And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
—Rev. 7:1
7216 A Revolution Today
A revolution is taking place in the world’s weather.
In prehistoric times, the weather on earth was so cold that great ice areas covered all of Canada, the Arctic Sea, and extended as far south as New York and Saint Louis. Many glaciers and solid ice covered the entire North Sea, Greenland, Poland and most of Russia. The Alps were covered by enormous glaciers.
The so-called little ice age reached its peak about 1850, and since then the glaciers have been in retreat. World climate has been slowly and steadily rising.
At first this change was slow and many cold winters came in between. Then gradually, the warmer winters became frequent. Reports from all over the world say a dramatic change has come, and no longer is change gradual but it is moving at an accelerated pace.
7217 Temperature Rise
A rise of from 2 to 4 degrees in the world’s temperature would melt all the ice at the poles.
The temperature had risen that much in the past two decades, and is going higher. In some parts of the north, the temperature was up 20 degrees!
7218 If Ice Melts …
If all the ice on the earth were to melt, the oceans would be something like 400 feet deeper. If just the Greenland ice were to melt, it would be about 15 feet deeper.
7219 North Pole And Philippines
According to the Arctic flier-explorer, Bernt Balchen, there is a definite warming trend over the North Pole, and it is melting the Polar ice cap even more rapidly than meteorologists had expected. The Norwegian-born explorer thinks the warm-up may be induced by volcanic activity in the Philippines!
—Pastor’s Manual
7220 Colder Again
The temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere were getting systematically warmer—probably by several degrees—between 1890 and 1940; the increase has stopped and the temperatures have gone colder again. I would say that things are about two-thirds to where we were before this rise occurred.
7221 New Ice Age?
This cooling trend started about 10–20 years ago and reversed a warming trend that had been taking place for about 50 years.
Some scientists say that a few degrees of cooling will bring on a new ice age with rapid and drastic effects on the agricultural productivity of the temperate regions. On the other hand, if we have a few degrees of heating, the polar ice caps will melt and perhaps raise the ocean levels 250 feet.
7222 Volcanoes And Cooling
When many volcanoes spew dust into the atmosphere, it reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches earth, and therefore things tend to cool off. The eruptions of Mt. Agung volcano [on the island of Bali] in 1963 reduced the sun’s radiation reaching earth by 5 percent. That decrease lasted for several years, gradually fading away, and it was from just several eruptions of one volcano.
7223 Only Slight Cold Over Arctic
A slight increase in cloudiness and cold over the Arctic Sea would cause the entire region to go completely to ice all year round. This also would change the world’s climate. Ice and snow reflect more heat than most other ground covers and this also can, we suspect, cause a cooling trend in global weather.
7224 Winter Of 1976
The winter of 1976 is described by the National Weather Service as “The Winter of the Century.”
Record-breaking cold wrought havoc on the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Miami, Florida, had its first snow ever recorded. Factories closed, schools shut, hundreds of thousands of workers idled, homes chilled, transportation choked. It was one of the worst winters ever to hit the U. S.
West of the Rocky Mountains, however, Americans had a severe drought, threatening catastrophic agricultural losses. Snowfall and melting in the Rockies and other western mountain ranges provide 70% of the water for the entire West. As 1976 began, snowfall was 30% below normal—the least in the past 40 years.
7225 Greatest Recorded Snowstorm
In 1614–15 there was, in Derbyshire, the greatest snowstorm recorded in history. It began January 16th, and fell at ten successive times, daily increasing until March 12th, and it was not until the 28th of May, that the last of it disappeared from the roadways. The first fall covered the earth to the depth of three feet, nine inches, and the heaps and drifts became so deep, that travel both by horse and foot was over hedges and walls, and in some cases even over houses.
7226 “Acts Of God” Denied
So-called “acts of God” may no longer be a defense in damages arising out of storms, heavy rains, or other natural disasters, according to a decision handed down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The decision was made in favour of a man injured by a falling telephone pole during a heavy snow. The man sued the telephone company, which argued that it was without liability because the pole fell through “an act of God.”
The courts decided otherwise, noting that the company had not inspected the pole for 15 years before it toppled.
The decision affirmed a county court award of $10,820 damages.
—Christianity Today
7227 “Not To Us”
During the last summer, at Coblentz, we saw a monument erected to commemorate the French campaign against the Russians in 1812. It was a gigantic failure: 400,000 men set forth for Moscow, but 25,000 men returned.
It was nothing else but the elements which did it. And Czar Alexander did not forget it. In recognition of divine interposition and help, he struck a medal with a legend: “NOT TO ME, NOT TO US, BUT UNTO THY NAME.”
—Enoch Hall
7228 Snowflakes Falling
Snowflakes falling, twisting, swirling
There upon my window sill,
Who of Heaven’s great designers
Traced your lace with such great skill?
Soft and fragile web of myst’ry
Falling on my window sill
I shall wonder, ever wonder,
Whose hand held that magic quill.
—Julian L. Janus
7229 On Snowflakes
Snowflakes have six sides. It is claimed there are no two snowflakes alike, yet all are hexagonal in shape. An eminent scientist, J. Wilson Bentley, devoted his life to the study of snowflakes. He photographed over 10,000 flakes. He found no two exactly alike, though all have six sides. He claimed that the entire countryside from Maine to California might be covered with snow a foot deep, yet no two flakes would be exactly alike.
7230 Wonders Of Ice
Isn’t it wonderful that ice floats? If it sank, the fish and other lake dwellers would smother! But with ice on top, they’re protected from the cold. Frogs in the underwater mud, and turtles in the bank—they’re all waiting for their God-given, mental alarm clocks to wake them in the spring.
7231 The Sounds Of Snow
When there is snow on the ground the degree of frost can be measured acoustically. If the temperature is only a little below zero, the snow begins to creak in a rather high voice; at ten degrees, it squeaks and rings in a high clear tone; at 15 degrees below zero, it pipes and whines with a sound as terribly high as harmonics played on a violin. Very severe frost is quite a shrill whistle like a knife scraped over a plate.
—Karel Capek