Cloud + Wind Atlases [1]
Cloud Atlas
Emily Dickinson, The Clouds their / Backs together laid, c. 1872. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.
. . .If Clouds were the mere result of the condensation of Vapour in the masses of atmosphere which they occupy, if their variations were produced by the movements of the atmosphere alone, then indeed might the study of them be deemed an useless pursuit of shadows, an attempt to describe forms which, being the sport of winds, must be ever varying, and therefore not to be defined. But however the erroneous admission of this opinion may have operated to prevent attention to them, the case is not so with Clouds. They are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which effect all the variations of the Atmosphere : they are commonly as good visible indications of the operation of these causes as is the countenance of the state of a person’s mind or body. . . . In order to enable the Meteorologist to apply the key of Analysis to the experience of others, as well as to record his own with brevity and precision, it may perhaps be allowable to introduce a Methodical nomenclature, applicable to the various forms of suspended water, or, in other words, to the Modifications of Cloud. . . . —From Luke Howard, On the Modifications of Clouds, and on the Principles of their Production, Susj)ension, and Destruction; being the Substance of an Essay read before the Askesian Society in the Session 1802–3.
Thoughts are clouds….Imagine the sky as a desert full of innumerable cumulus clouds slipping by and metamorphosing themselves, and into whose flood your thinking can or rather must fall and make contact with this or that unexpected aspect. —Jean-Francois Lyotard, Peregrinations, 5–8.
Cloud Types
Three large species, each with subspecies, of clouds have been identified: the High Clouds (5–13 km), which include Cirrus, Cirrocumulus, and Cirrostratus clouds; the Clouds of the Middle Sky (2–7 km), which include Altocumulus, Altostratus, and Nimbostratus clouds; and the Low Clouds (0–2 km), which include Stratus, Cumulus, Cumulonimbus, and Stratocumulus clouds.
C19 Cloud Data
The cloud data in the Ring is drawn from the Meteorological Journal kept by Ebenezer (1835-1876) and Sabra Snell (1876-1902 )of Amherst, Massachusetts. Like other natural historians of their time, the Snells counted clouds not with divining instruments but by careful observation: gazing up at the sky, they mentally divided it into imaginary sections, then estimated the fraction of each section covered by clouds. The Snells appear to have divided the sky into 10 sections, since they use a scale of “0” — apparently indicating a clear, empty sky — to “10” — apparently indicating total cloud cover.
In 1864, Stratus clouds dominated in every month, followed by Nimbus, Cirrus, and Sttarocumulus, and, more distantly, Cumulostratus and Cirrostratus clouds.
Dickinson’s Cloud-Ways: Fragments from a Concordance [2]
1861: The Clouds – like listless Elephants – • The clouds were gaunt, and few –
1862: The Color, on the cruising cloud – • A Member of the Cloud – • As Birds – that tumble from the clouds • Then – to the Royal Clouds • Great Clouds – like Ushers – leaning – • And measures with the Clouds
1863: With an opposing Cloud – • As if the Cloud that instant slit • That often as a Cloud it met – • And had + owned Estates of Cloud • And next, I met her on a cloud • A curious Cloud surprised the Sky • And when – Some Night – Bold – slashing Clouds • Some Carnivals of Clouds –
1864: Behind inferior Clouds – or round
1865: A Cloud the mighty Sun encloses • A Cloud withdrew from the Sky • But that Cloud and it’s Auxiliaries
1866: The Sky is low – the Clouds are mean
1872: Opon a Wheel of Cloud – • The Clouds their Backs together laid
1877: The Poppy + warrant in the Cloud –
N.d. By millenary of the cloud • The Sun retired to a cloud
—From The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson
Wind Atlas
Emily Dickinson, A Wind that rose, c. 1871. Amherst College Archives & Special Collections.
Three forms of wind inhabit Western Massachusetts: [1] Planetary Winds that constantly blow throughout the year in a particular direction; Periodic Winds that change direction in different seasons and are influenced by topographical conditions; and Local Winds that blow in response to the differences in temperature and air pressure of a specific location.
The Planetary Winds blowing through Amherst and over the continents and oceans beyond it are the “Westerlies,” that ribbon of prevailingly eastward air movement that encircles the globe in the mid-latitudes. Embedded in this circulation are vast masses of air originating in more northerly or southerly latitudes—dry air pouring down from subarctic North America; warm, moist air streaming up from the Gulf of Mexico; damp air moving in from the North Atlantic—and intermingling to produce frequent, substantial storm systems. In Massachusetts, the frequent passage of storm circulations brings about abrupt fluctuations in temperature, moisture, sunshine, wind speed and direction. Beyond the cadence of continual change, no regular rhythm marks the storm sequences.
The Periodic Winds blowing through Amherst are largely the low mountain and valley breezes—the small-scale katabatic winds—of the Berkshire Hills (Dickinson sometimes called them the “Blue Hills”) and the Taconic Range.
The Local Winds that visit Amherst, associated with severe storms colloquially known as Nor’easters, are synoptic-scale extratropical cyclones from the western North Atlantic Ocean. They thrive on converging air masses—the cold polar air mass and the warmer air over the water—and develop most often and most powerfully between the months of November and March.
In the summer months, wind speeds are minimal – less than 5 mph – and August is the stillest of all months; in late winter and early spring, the wind speeds are strongest, with an average maxima of 33 mph.
Dickinson’s Wind-Ways: Fragments from a Concordance
1859: South winds jostle them • Some, too fragile for winter winds
1860: But when winds alarm the Forest Folk • Except for winds – provincial.
1861: Wind and sun – wilt thee array! • South winds jostle them – • The day was warm, and winds were prosy – • Futile – the winds –
1862: The Wind did’nt come from the Orchard – today – • The Wind does – working like a Hand • When Winds go round and round, in Bands – • But when the South Wind stirs the Pools • Not loud enough – for Wind – • You, or the Wind? • The Wind does not require the Grass • Turned by the wind – • South winds jostle them – • When Winds hold Forests in their Paws – • When Winds take Forests in their Paws – • The Gnash of Northern winds • When Winds – upset the Basin –
1863: The Wind – is Prince of Those – • Against the Wind – be seen – • A Wind with fingers – goes – • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man – • In the Meadow – when the Wind • The Wind pursued the little Bush – • The Winds did buy it of the Woods – • The Wind – unrolled it fast – • The Sleet – the bitter Wind – • A South Wind – has a pathos • The Happy Winds – their Timbrels took – • Because the Winds would find it out – • The Winds – like Children – lulled – • Constructed for the Winds –
1864: Afar + remote – + astray – opon the Wind • Of it’s Voice – to affirm – when the Wind is within – • The Wind begun to knead the Grass • The spry + long Arms of the Wind • The Wind could wait without the Gate
1865: For language, and the Wind • Shy as the Wind of his Chambers + Lodgings • Offended + insulted – + assaulted by the Wind • The Capsule of the Wind • Adjust the Heat – elude the Wind – • When the Winds of Will are stirred • The Winds came closer up –
1866: The Wind begun to knead the Grass • A Narrow Wind complains all Day
1868: And takes the Wind at prime – • The Wind took up the Northern Things • The Wind unto his Chamber + its Chambers went • Winds of Summer Fields
1869: The duties of the Wind are few – • The pleasures of the Wind are broad, • The kinsmen of the Wind, are Peaks • The limitations of the Wind • The Winds went out their martial ways
1870: I bet with every Wind that blew • As Branches touch the Wind
1871: A Wind that rose though not a Leaf • A Wind that woke a lone Delight
1872: Like paragraphs + Articles of Wind • And then I + we knew ’twas Wind – • The Snow and Wind
1873: The Wind begun to rock the Grass • I think that the Root of Wind is Water – • A sudden Freight of Wind assumed + took on
1874: A Wind that woke a lone Delight
1875: Competing with the Wind –
1876: The Flake the Wind exasperate
1877: Competing with the Wind • How spacious the wind must feel morns • How haughty the wind must feel noons • How lonely the wind must be nights • How lonesome the Wind must feel Nights – • How pompous the Wind must feel Noons • How mighty the Wind must feel Morns • A wild Blue sky abreast of Winds
1878: To qualify the Wind –
1880: I saw the wind within her –
1881: And Winds – Minute Effulgencies
1883: The Wind begun to rock the Grass • How slow the Wind – how slow the Sea – • There came a Wind like a Bugle – • Subduing Winds that censure + sunder us • Pursuing Winds that censure us
1884: And winds do go that way at noon
N.d.: Without a surety from the Wind • The wind drew off • Too stolid for the wind – • A short relief to have the wind • Upon a pile of wind
—From The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson
[1] Weather Sources: https://media.cocorahs.org/docs/ClimateSum_MA.pdf; https://archive.org/details/anewsystemmeteo00ticegoog.
[2] S. P. Rosenbaum, A Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1964.