The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-04-05

that such series oil OBSERVATIONS wouiu
prove spylhingY While an isolated case OF tracing
sush storm over the Atlantic would not prove the
| possibility OF . meteoroiogist in the United States
predicting the arrival OF storms Europe. it would
| undoubtedly form The basis OF an investigation. II
such an inyestl gation showed beyond any question
that storm movements over the ocean are governed
by incomprehens,be laws whose exceptional opera
von u comparatively rare, Il clearly follows that
ciogs and couslsn study OF such laws would permit
OF system OF reliable predictions beng based thereon.
| Such study has been made BY the HERALD Weather
Bureau. anu the results are tina. even Mr. Scott Is
| compelled TO admit failure Of only forty-two per
cent after s,ra,ning every possible point and word
70 support MS viewR
Referring 70 Professor Drapey's theory Of storm
movements Mr.. Scott remarks--.lnformasion 10 DO
sirabs TO the precise tess sppled TO she dsturo'
ancs al thu side OF the Atlantic. MI Draper speaks
Of stormx TINS word. In our phraseoioey. would I'M
ply Force OF Besuiort's scale. strong gale w'tn
velocity Of over nny-nvs miles an hour" Without
venturing 10 enter into any discussion that
may be raised between Mr.. Scott and MI
Draper OF their respective opin
ions Is proper 10 state Mr. Scotts rather robust
ideas Of what a storm ought TO be is somewhat be-
You'd those that prevail in America People IN the
United States are quito prepared 10 accept or1y-ni'e
wind, or one less velocity, when accompanied
by rain snow, a Storm IL IL also worthy Of mo-
that the Brush press report 'storms' Ia Eng
land thirty five milo winds and declare them 10
be very severe and even the regular weekly weather
bulletin OF tho Kew Observatory, published In the Lon
don Times OF February % 1877, states:.The weather
was very stormy the velocity OF the wind attaining
rate OF thirty seven miles an hour, &c
Any atmospheric disturbance that threatens or
causes damage to property or endangcrs tho
lives OF scamen other persons may be called
storm. Those signaiIsd ny the HERALD Weather Blu
reau are In many instances below the STANDARD Of
storms when leaving the OF this continent but
increase IN energy as they advance eastward. They
not unfrequently disorganze TO extent when ap
proaching the Azores or passing over tho mid Allan
TIC, but their energy again over the British
Islands, Norway or In the Baltic All these changes
due TO variations Ia ihe relations OF conditions,
and but rarely OF the conditions themselves.
In enumcratlng the different attempts made util-
ize the cables for weather warnings Mr. Scott ig-
nores the work the late NJ. Le Verrier,
wno cooperating with British officials in
ls65-'6, employed the cable receiving
messages from Newfoundland. For the reason
as Mr. Scott's arrangement during lS6S7l failed that
Of NJ. LIE vsrrler proved unsuccesslul but The late
distinguished Director Of the Observatory OF Paris did
not venture 10 assign failure TO the same cause. He
plainly tod the HERALD representative In Paris that
III success duo 10 the want OF competent OBJ
server IN Newfoundland who would watch and signal
advancing toward the coast from the interior
OF the American continent The charts in the "Atlas
dos Movements Generaux de rAtmosphore," pub
lishsd under NJ lie verrier's direction, are based
observations with tho object of establishing the
transatlantic passage Of American storms Mr.. Scott
appears TO be aware Of this undertaking when he
says:-.The nrst practical proposal for such SERVICE
as lar as I am aware. was made to in August
1861" and adds
received gratis for the space of nearly
four %. sre. S.I sas Of the
practies partly owing to .hs that the
storm could possibly hurt cable wind
the head Of the and reported 20 Us bore little relation
Partly because the weather observer at hsarts Con-
Bay sheltered out Of the wind, partly because
Mr.. Scott believes that II all but impossible TO
dict which storm out OF several starting from the
Suites with reach u.s." the cable system dropped
whom the Anglo American Telegraph Company pro-
posed 10 charge Tor the messages In support Of hs
belief that cannot be traced over ths ocean
Mr. Scott quotes Professor LOOMS OPP Mon, which is
az iollows:-
When from the American continent enter
the Atlantic ocean they generally unasrgo important
appear originate the that
Atlantic.
Tho daily observations during eighteen months in
1866 captains Of large number OF vessels scat
tered the ocean, well as those OF the Atartic
coast OF America and the entire Europe have been
charted and the isobars traced carefully posi-
bio by the metcorologsts Of The Paris Observatory.
In the large majority OF these 1t 10 clearly
showa that storms do pass the In such
numbers render any possible confusion In their
Identification. Neither there be found than
. few instances in which storms develop over tho
great meteorological field OF the North Atlantic, ex-
cept In quite near the tropical zone OF that ocean.
these cyclonic disturbances remarkably inre
quent The storms leaving tho continent OF tho New
Eogiand New Brunswick coasts do 80 the great
majority OF with con siderable intervals between
their centrcs-intervais that marked by conditions
VIII generally prevent the union OF tho storm
Cases are known where two and even three storm
centres enter what might DO termed the general
area OF low pressure but these instances are rarc
and the storm centres never lose their Identity
Even when passing over this continent the centres
or properly, the worthless OF storms. travel side by
side without losing their individual organization.
Subsidisry centres developed by the movement of
original stormsthat 10 TO say, storms whose courses
havo bceu traced the continent rarely merge
with the main Disturbances after both have passed
over the coast line into the unobstructed
plane of tho ocean, and then only under pecu-
liar circumstances There is scarcely possibility
that any careful observer who has proper concep-
uou OF the movement OF storms win fail Ia recognize
ing the entity or each disturbance that leaves the
American coast. The steamship reports, FURNISHED
regularly 10 tue HERALD Weather Bureau by exper-
fenced commanders, show the regular procession
eastward OF all Impressions, and an instsncs has not
yet occurred OF failure tho part Of the Bureau TO
recognize them. Another important act worth noting
In connection with tins question that diagram Of
tho barometric oscillations, kept Tor the HERALD
Weather Bureau at Queenstown, Ireland, during 1877,
shows depression Tor depression with tho HERALD's
predictions Tor that region Mr. scott may regard
sucn condolences tho resul, Of mere chance, but
behind them come the records OF steamship oosefva.
lions that complete the evidence.
stili another fact is that the HERALD Weather Blu
reau predicted the arrival OF storms certain parts
oil the European coasts-such as, for the "Britisn,
French and Spanish coasts - the British French
coasts; - the .British coastr only, and the "North
British aud Norwegian coasts" On consulting tho