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Article: Down by the Old Jet Stream ...
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 18, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Why does it get so darn cold sometimes? Why do big masses of
Arctic air decide to wander down into the United States in the
winter and freeze our tushes off?
A good way to understand, scientifically, the nature of cold
weather, is to think of cold air as containing fewer molecules of
nitrogen and oxygen and carbon dioxide and so forth than warm air.
This is not technically precise, because it is completely
wrong, and in fact is the opposite of the truth (cold air is
actually much denser than warm air), but it's still a convenient
thought, you must admit. When it gets to minus-3, as it did one
recent morning outside the Why bunker, we can tell ourselves that
there's basically nothing ...