Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-04-18

scientific Americana


: tration o. modern newspaper enterpri
we should mention-not the achievemer
of Abysinian or Bulgarian war corrcspon
ents. not the relief of Livingstone. not t
survey of the Equatorial Lakes of Atric
not Stanlcys conquest of the Congo; n
nor even the Heyuid's latest project to :
I OK the North Pole. We should name
service to humanity greater than any
these, and one less liable to suspicion as
its motives: that is, the work of the He
AIDS Weather Bureau. In this we fin
not only the noblcst exhibition yet mao
of newspaper enterprise, but one of III
most significant achievements in moder
practical science.
A few days ago the Herald gave a II
view OF the first years work of its weatle
service. with complete list of the warn
ings and predictions transmitted by cabl
to Europe, with the manner of their full
tillment.
The first warning issued was dated Feb
"a. 1877. predicting the arrival of storr
on the European coast five days later. Thu
prediction was fulfilled TO the letter. Dur
iry the ensuing three months eleven more
warnings were cabled, and each was just
fled by the event. During May, June and
July. sixteen warnings were sent. and but
one proved ont of time. From August.
1877, to January. 1873. out If nineteen
predictions cablcd, seventeen were COM
pletcly fulfilled, one was generally fulfilled
and one failed, the failure being due to a
miscalculatiOn OF the progress of slow
cyclone storm from the southwest. Thus
out Of forty-siX warnings only two wholly
failed Of complete or partial fulfillment.
Of the forty -four successes, thiry-one
were correct in every particular. eight
were correct in general, and five were. part
~ fulfilled by the arrival Of storms on sec
tons of the European coasts. but not aE
fecting other sections to'which their intlu-
ence was believed likely to extend. 1t GER
tainly speaks well for the truth both Of the
observations and the theory on which
these predictions were made that over
ninety five per cent. of them were fulfilled.
and as nothing succeeds like success, it is
not surprising that the warnings, which
were received at first with derisiOn, are
now published regularly in the leading
commercial and agricultural papers Of En-
gland and France, and also find place in |
the official International Bulletins of the
Obseryatories of Paris and Brussels.
The storm movements on which the
warnings are based are few and simple.
Except in the Mediterranean regions the
weather of the countries 10 the east of us
is chiefly determined by the weather of the
American continent. and as the telegraph
Outspeeds the wind the storms approach
ing tue European coast can usually he
fOretold days in advance of their arrival.
Nearly every storm that strikes the Nor
wegian, British, French and Spanish coasts
has affected in IFS course the weather OF
some portion of the United States or Cana
da. These storms generally strike the
coasts northward OF the Bay of Biscay,
travelling in nOltlleastcr!y, easterly or
direction. Those which
come from the southwestward are usually.
but not exclusively, of equatorial origin,
or pass over the American continent by
the soutlIwcstward route of the Gulf from
the Pacific Ocean. Cyclone storms, such
rs the one which devastated Southern. Tex
as in 1879. take very direct courses to-
ward Europe from the southwest. But in
stances are by no means rare of storms
that have passed over the lake region from
the northwestern territory and the Pacific.
being carried souilwestward to compare
lively low ATTITUDES. and then northeast
ward so rs TO reach Europe from the
southwest.
After storms reach the European coast
they pass either over Norway toward
Northern and Central Russia, or eastward .
over Denmark and the Baltic to Northern
Germany or Southern Russia, or else
over fhe English Channel.
the Netherlands, and France to Central .
Europe and the regions of the Danube
Valley and Asia Minor. Nearly all tie
storms that affected the bclligerentS in Bul-
garia during the recent canp;ign in Tur-
key were OF the latter class.
After "a protracted comparison of wealth
n reports on both sides of the Atlantic,
by observations of ship cap
aims on the Atlantic and the Gulf. tile Her.
It'd Bureau was able 10 deduce the laws of
Atlantic storm movements OH which its
weather predictions and European warn
ngs are based. From their scientific. no,
css than their commercial and agricliltur-
i value, these warnings are among the
most notable achievements of thc age.