Middletown transcript., 1878-04-20

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clearing away. This time you would
move the black cloth eastward tt
North Platte and put a gray cloth a
Omaha to show that it was cloudy
there.
The following day all the stations
might report by telegraph that the
weather was still pleasant, except al
Davenport, Iowa and Omaha. Al
Davenport it is cloudy. At Omaha
it is raining hard. At North Platte
it has cleared. Now we have got on
the track of storm. We first heard
of it at Cheyenne, the next day at
North Platte, and then at Omaha.
Now, it took twenty-four hours for
the storm to 60 from one place to an
other, and the places are about equal
distances apart, and they stand in a
straight line east and west. If, then,
the storm moves forward in so many
hours and in a particular direction, it
is fair to suppose that it will keep on
at the same speed and in the same d.
rection. Men who have looked into
this matter, tell us that storms do have
regular tracks, and that they move
with nearly uniform speed, and you
have now only to look ahead on the
map to see where the storm is going.
Chicago lies to the east of Davenport,
and is about as far from Davenport as
it is from Omaha. Therefore, we can
infer that the cloudy weather will
reach Chicago in advance of the storm
tomorrow, and that the rain will reach
Davenport on the same day. At the
same time, we can infer that the storm
will move away from Omaha, and will
be fair weather there tomorrow.
The next day the reports come in,
and we find that our guess is right. 1t
is raining at Davenport, and is cloudy
at Chicago. Everywhere else it is
clear. The storm is still travelling east
ward at the same rate, and tomorrow
it will rain at Chicago, and will be
cloudy at Toledo, in Ohio.
IF you have moved the two pieces of
cloth each day, you will see how the
storm has moved on Cheyenne, through
North Platte, Omaha, and Davenport
to Chicago. The gray cloth has kept
in advance of the black, just as the
cloudy weather has kept in front of the
rain. Having followed the storm so
far, it is easy to look on the map and
to decide just where the cloudy wealth
er and the storm will be tomorrow and
the next day.
IF you could telegraph to Erie, in
Pennsylvania, and to New York city,
Boston, and Eastport, Maine, you could
tell the people that the storm was COM
ing. You could say that it would
reach Toledo tomorrow, Erie next
day, New York the next day after that,
Boston the following day, and East
port the day after that.
This is the work of "Old Prob" He
sits at Washington, and receives each
day report of the weather in all parts
Of the country. He has maps of the
United States, and he makes marks on
them, each day, to show the direction
Of the wind, how far it is travelling, the
height of the thermometer and barom-
eter, and the state of the weather. He
sees the storm begin in the Rocky
Mountains and travel over the country
toward the East. He sees the cloudy
weather moving in front of the storm,
and the clearing weather behind it. He
observes the width of the storm and its
shape, and can tell how fast it will
move, and how much country it will
cover, and how many cities and towns
t will touch. He can thus telegraph
o places that lie in the path of the
storm, and can warn them that it is
coming.
Some storms begin in the Gulf of
Mexico and travel northeast, through |
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the
Carolinas, and then move off on the
Atlantic out of sight. They do not
ouch Virginia, or the States to the
North, and the weather remains pleas
int in New York while it is srorming
u Charleston. Another storm may
Use in the Rocky Mountains and travel
through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Penn
ylvania and New York to New Eng
and. 1t may food these States with
ain, while the Southern States have
pleasant weather.
Some storms travel fast, others slow;
ONE take one track, some another, but
here is a general rule that governs
hem all. As soon as "Old Prob" hears
rom his men that storm has set out
II its travels, hequickly decides where
is going. In eighty storms out of
hundred he is right, and the storm
caches the Atlantic coast just where
e predicts.
All storms move from the West to-
Tard the East. That is, East toward
be Southeast or Northeast OF their
and how the barometer
nd thermometer act in front of a storm