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PAGE 10. WFDNFSD)AY, DECEMBER 17, 1980, WIIITBY FREE PRESS Between You and Me liv RUTHI COLIS 1J 9 Nature is providing that she can't be beaten- not by the likes of us. She istaking the world away from intellectuals and giving it back to the apes. Robert E. Sherwood. Hardly a day goes by that one does not hear a remark about the weather either pro or con. What goes on in the at- mosphere affects everyone differently and people often react very quickly tochanges in the weather. There is a greater realization now that barometric pressure affects and influences some people's health in varying degrees. I think there should be more studies made in the health field about this phenomenon. It's probably the most natural thing in the world. We are all creatures of nature and no doubt she wields a great deal of power in this direction. Have you ever head people talk of their stomach ulcers or their blood pressure in terms of weather? Do you know people who complain of being "down" or so depressed by the weather? On the other hand, others are invigorated by grey skies, rain and heavy storms. I am and look forward to a stormy day so that I can do all sorts of things inside such as house cleaning or sitting by the fire with a book and a pot of tea. This to me is the ultimate, not every day of course as there is a limit to how much house cleaning you want to do. Wind, who likes the wind? I do if (and it has to be if) I am inside and can listen to the sound without feeling it. Have you ever been in the small white church at Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia on a quiet, still warm summers day? Weather works m weird ways The wind literally tears around this structure and from inside you feel it is June in January. When the barometer rises pressure is high and conversly when it falls it is low. The average pressure at sea level is approximately 14½ lbs per square inch. With normal variations of barometric pressure, this can vary within a range of one pound per square inch approximately, or about 6%. This variation of course is felt by the body. The higher we are above sea level the pressure becomes less and this is why some people have difficulty in breathing at high altitudes. However the average body adjusts to these normal variations without difficulty. This is why aircraft have pressurized cabins to maintain acceptable air pressure and why astronauts wear pressurized suits. These changes of pressure on body can affect people in dif- ferent ways. It's natural to assume that that normal variation of pressure at a given level affects the body. Generally on a clear day when barometric pressure is high people feel more invigorated than when it is low, usually with grey skies. To day my husbans and I drove t Hamilton by two different routes, one to the south and back by the north. We saw a variety of weather patterns. To the north, masses of gray clouds which seemed to have been formed by moistrue ab- sorbed by the -cold layers of air passing over the warmer water of Georgian To the south above the horizon of Lake Ontario we could see miles of gray skies. This would be caused by the same phenomenon, water being absorbed over the lake and sub- sequently falling as snow in that particular area. As we drove the skies above us were blue with cumulus clouds floating by here and there. Whenever, I see these clouds I think of the stores told with great glee by some fighter pilotes after the war about their escapes in the sky. At times they played'tag, hide and seek through and about in the white, fluffy clouds: They were no doubt amazed at their own survivial rate. What a crazy game to play but probably no more dangerous than flying their missions over the com- bat zone. Weather predictions particulary in the area of the great lakes is often difficult and one hears the remarke that you cannot believe the weather man. Living by the lake I feel this way and often think I am my own weather man. When the wind comes from the east it means rain or snow, contrary to whatever the predictions are. The ripples or waves comimg from the east tell us loudly and clearly what to expect. Weather patterns are often made unpredictable by the air currents passing over masses of land and large bodies of water like the great lakes. These patterns are more predic- table when they pass over lagre expanse of water like the ocenas or vast expanses of land such as the prairies. There are many factors which affect weather such as the moon, seasonal temperature changes, variations in height of land and even the vegetation, such as deserts and forests. This was, no doubt, was how our ancestors and natives of various countries were able to predict weather with a reasonable degree of accuracey approaching that obtained by modern scientific methods. Even to day there are people often isolated up to the north who can predict accurately too. Their predictions often were based upon observations of the various cloud formations and the higher and lower layers of atmosphere. The direction and speed in which they travel and the rate of change in direction often gave accurate in- formation. The moon of course by it's gravitational affect creates the ocen tides which in turn, through rising and falling, make changes in air currents of the atmosphere. As the moon trajectory varies from one month to another the tides also vary so there is no uniformity in the change of air current patterns over the oceans. I understand that there is an almost negligible tide in the lakes and some day I will try to measure it myself. In last nights paper there was some information about the wooly bear caterpillar who is now considered to be among the most accurate of weather forecasters. They say you can predict local weather by observing the width of the reddish- brown band on the 1¼ inch'caterpillar. Where do you look for him? OROP