Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-12-27
THE slsSM SERVICE BUREAU.
How storms are Reported.

'ui IedutIS are every iliOIIllnp informed |
in the CHRONICLES of the probabilities of |
the weather for the day before them. As
all do not, perhaps, realize how these re-
ports are made up, and upon what princi- |
piles, we give some facts explaining these
operations, which we have prepared with
care:
Within a few years past, meteorology
has made rapid progress and has risen to
the dignity of true science. The inyen-
ton and perfection of the barometer and
thermometer has brought it within the
power of man 20 grasp and unfold the laws
of certain phenomena which are continll-
ally occurring within the region of our At
mospherc. Thus it has been determined
that storms move with n degree of regu-
larity and according to u fixed law bv
which their progress and destination can
be determined in advance of their arrival.
As these became developed it was per-
ceivcd that great practical advantage might
be taken of them. Accordingly about one
year ago the United States Signal Service
was established by the General Govern
ment. Its prime object was the protection
of shipping on our lakes and sea-coasts
from the destructive effect Of those dread
ful storms and cyclones which annually
destroy thousands of lives and sweep away
millions of dollars worth of property.
organized rs n division of the United States
army, and Observers were stationed at fa-
yorable points all over the country from
Maine to California and from Key West to
the head of the great lakes.
All these stations have telegraphic com
munication with a chief signal office at
| Washington, and three times day at ex-
| actly the same moment, Washington time
| the state of the weather is noted by aid of
the proper instruments, and telegraphed
! to the officer in chief. When these are re-
| ceived, the situation in all parts of the
! United States il at once comprehended by
the head weather man." and if storm
is raging in any section, its law is so we'll
understood that cautionary signals are at
once ordered to be given on the routes which
il will pass over For example great
many OF our storms are formed on the
| plains, Just east of the Rocky mountains
| and sweeping over the Mississippi valley
increase In fury till they reach the lakes,
and finally pass of from the Atlantic coast.
] These storms moving, as Is now well de-
termined, in the character of vast whirl-
winds, do not proceed forward as fast
as might be at first supposed. At is their
rotary motion that does, the damage
by its velocity and not their real progress.
Therefore it may be several days after q
storm rises at the Rocky mountains before
it finally leaves the continent at New
FOunulanu anu is lOSU III lDe AtlanJlt
Ocean.
During all this time the office at Wash
ington is continually appraised of its pro-
gress and location by dispatches from the
various signal stations and forecasts of its
time of arrival at other points are tele-
graphed sometimes twenty-four or forty
eight hours ahead.
This has been done in numerous in
| stances and hundreds of vessels and thou.
sands of lives have been saved by the
timely warning. Every American storm
usually comes from one of three directions
In the first place cyclones from the West
India Islands in following the track Of the
Gulf stream frequently send out ofl-shoots
up the South Atlantic coast. The force o.
these is generally broken against the sum
its of the Blue Ridge and Alleghanies
They sometimes ravage the coast as fal
north as New York and Nova Scotia.
The second system move north from the
Gulf of Mexico through Texas and Louis.
lana and throughout the extent of the Mis-
sissippi valley, while the third come from
the region of the Rocky mountains and
passing eastward reach the Atlantic.
These last it il thought, probably have
their first origin on the coasts of China anC
Japan, IN the very nursery of the tenn
pest and typhOon,h and following the
ocean currents across the Paclhc nnally
reach the California coast.
Weather DEMONSTRATION is no longer {
; matter of guess work, but Il thing of Ger
tainty. No longer may it be said the
wind bloweth where it listeth and ye heal
the sound thereof, but know not whence il
cometh or whittier it goeth." The light
ming of the telegraph distances the tieetes
hurricane, and the wisdom of man marks
its pathway.