The New York herald., 1879-11-22
Herald storm Warnings i'm Europe

ciative cousins beyond the sea not merely
MS usual that they might specifically ex-
pect great storm on given day, but that
they must abandon all hopes of good
weather for a designated number of days
to come; in short, gave them notice that
enough atmospheric disturbances were
moving their way on direct Transatlantic
routes to last them beyond the goth
inst. All has happened, as the cable
reports inform us, substantially as foretold.
Continued bad weather has been expert
enced in the North, and the storm which
was relied upon to carry them over the goth
reached its destination promptly on that
date, and appears to have been one OF ex-
traordinary violence. Great numbers OF
vessels, detained on the coasts by head
winds, appear to have reached safe harbors
ut different points, some of them decidedly
the worse for disregarding fair notice. As
the HERALD weather predictions have ex-
cited the ire of few meteorologists. who
have spoken of them in carping spirit, it is
a pleasure to notice that there is also some
disposition in England to do full justice to
their success.
From the Gentleman's Magazine, of Lon
don, we reprint to-day tabular statement
Of a series of our announcements by cable
of storms on their way across the Atlantic,
with the magazines own account Of the
outcome. This table is part of an article, of
the general argument Of which we gave an
outline few days since. Readers should
notice especially that of the four columns
OF this table the second only, or that which
contains the announcement of storms on
the way, is ours, and that the statements
Of the weather which actually pre-
vailed on the days named by us as
likely to be stormy, as well as the short
judgments upon success or failure, stand
on the authority of an entirely impartial
person resident in England. An excellent
judge has laid it down as rule that ''a
jest's prosperity lies in the ear of him that
hears it, never in the tongue of him that
makes it, but it cannot be said that the
prosperity of weather prediction depends
in any degree upon opinion. In that re-
spect at least it is thoroughly serious
subject. Prosperity here depends upon the
facts. Consequently the results as given in
the table must not be held as anybody's
more judgment of our success, for the
third column in the table is the record of
the weather, q record of facts too noto-
rious and of too common observation for
any one to misstate or pervert it, and q
publication of this record in this connec-
ton in o we'll known British periodical-if
ind ha cf iayf nf
this class now in existence in England
could not pass unchallenged and undenied
for day if there was the least room to dis
pute the statement of the weather as it is
placed opposite our predictions in the
| table.
Here, then, are twenty-seven storm warn
ings sent from the HERALD Office here by
cable to the HERALD Bureau in London and
there made public for the benefit of whom
it might concern, and the word "failure" is
set down opposite only two of this large
number. In every one besides the predic-
ton was fulfilled more or less exactly-par-
TALLY in eight, completely in seventeen. 1t
must be noted that these are not selected
examples Of storm predictions. They
are not culled from a far larger
number in order to put in a favorable light
the possibilities of scheme or the skill of
| a meteorologist. On the contrary, they
comprise the whole number sent during a
period of seven months. They show fairly
the average of operations for upward of
half year. Judged, therefore, literally
| and simply by the weather record which
the Gentlemdn's Magazine sets opposite the
copy of our predictions, it appears that
| twenty-five times in the course of seven sue
cessive months we notified different Euro
pean countries, from two to five days
beforehand, of the storms for which they
must prepare, and storms came on the days
foretold by US, and commonly attended by
the destructive winds or cold or rain or
snow which we associated with the predic-
ton. We not only foretold their storms,
we described them-gave indication of their
quality and peculiar features. In all that
many cases-twenty-fve out of twenty
seven-our predictions were verified, for
those which the writer under consider
alton sets down rs 'partial successes
can only be judged as partial from
standpoint which seems to us not
broad enough for operations on sc
grand scale. If we foretold the
arrival on the European coasts on certain
| date of storm of certain character, and
named three countries as those it would
possibly" reach ; and if the storm came on
the day named, and was just such storm
as we had described it, but reached only
two of the three countries named, that is
called "partial success" But We do not
object to high standard of criticism in
these cases our labors will stand it.
In the name of humanity we might
protest against Indifference. On March