National Republican., 1883-02-05
THE REALM OF STORMS.
Something About the Science Of Guessing
What tho Weather viii Be.
An Interesting Study Of the Business Of
the Signal Service.
How Storm Oenters Form and How Their Course is
Predicted.
What the Baromctcrs and Thermometers
Say 20 Those who Read Them.

years sought to be ranked as n science and
every civilized nation to-day has a corps of
trained observers to do that which ycster-
day was confined to the almanac makers and
the individual student of nature. 1t is yet in
its infancy, and beyond the classification of a
few facts and the analysis of deductions there
from, cannot moro properly'be called a science
than is tho skill of tho ploughboy in reading
natures signs, and the validity of his reason
ing thereon, entitled to that uamo Yet much
zeal, care and intellectual ability are being
exercised in the art Of forecasting tho
weather, and it is probable that in the not
distant future the scientific prodictor Of seet
and snow and sunshine will have wrought out
meteorological statue worthy high nicho
in the pantheon of the sciences.
But though
STILL IN ITS INFANCY,
the business Of predicting the weather is fas-
cinating one and has surrounded itself with
an interesting paraphcrnalia of appliances.
Tho science itself is something analogous to
humanity. We know as little of tho origin
ofstorms rs we do of the origin of man, and
the ultimate destiny of tempest is involved
in us much mystery as that of the genus homo.
From its starting point to its apparent disap-
pearance, however, the course of tempest
may be traced with as much accuracy as tho
career of n human being from the cradle TO
grave. The rise or the fall of the barometer
will defect the course of hurricane with the
sime certainty as the rise or fall of the pas
sions will move man TO change his moral
directions, and with the same results upon
the fields travGrsed. Long since there were
moral -moteOrolOgists, who observed facts,
ClaSsifiedsphenomena analyzcd ethical forces,
and recorded series of laws by which
physical disturbances might be predicted and
their effects modified, if not controlled. So
to-day there are physical meteorologists pur-
suing an analogous course with natural forces,
and slowly compiling
BIBLE OF WINDS AND CLOUDS
and atmospheric prcssures where the life of a
storm may he traced from the Genesis of its
creation in the quiet Eden of its constituent
forces to the Revelations of ultimate resolu-
tion of its elements in the New Jerusalem of
clear weather, where tornadoes cease from
troubling and barometers are at rest.
A glance at the workshop where these ana
lytical Sinais and Bethlehems are dispensing
their thundcrs of warnings and their vica-
TiOus atOncments of precautionary signals is
interesting. Under the guidance of the most
courteous of lieutenants the seeker after saliva
tion from cyclones, and how they do it, is in
troduced to u cryptographical record, and, for
example, the following inexplicable quotation
thrust under his nose: mobile node titR tone
hdifiiness rdmJle." You think of the confusion
of tongues and the words which choked the
Welshman at the building of Babel Some
of these terms wear familiar guise, but there
seems to be q want Of connection between the
ideas they express, which is somewhat puz-
zlng. Upon being translated however, the
meaning is so obvious that you are sorry you
didn't inform the lieutenant that cryptograms
were your favorite dessert, and that you had
a copy of the Rosetta stone inserted as tile
in your parlor mantel piece. The sentence
above is u concise way of reading the infor-
nation sent by observers Mt different stations
to the signal Office in Washington. The key
is kept here at headquarters, and thus tho
telegraph companies do not get as much toll
oEt of their meteorological grist as they
otherwise would.
The words given above are each in column
by themselves, the first one denoting the sta
tion, the second state of the barometer the
third that of the thermometer, the fourth of
the sunset the fifth disclOses the character of
the wind and the degree of the precipitation,
the next the velocity of the wind aud the
last the amount of rainfall. Thus explained,
the sentence reads thus "MObile, barometer,
30.06 thermometer, SO; clearing sunset; light
rain with north wind velocity Of wind seven
miles per hour, and 36,10O inches rainfall in
the preceding Sight hours"
From this collocaton of cryptograms tho
work of the office is made up. This work con-
sists in the
PREPARATION OF MAPS.
giving clear idea Of the geography of the
weather and in deductions from that geogra-
ply. The principal of these maps are the
barometer" of which these are two classes
the "actual change" and the "normal
change" tho temperature" cloud" and
humidity" or dew point" maps. On the
first no attention is paid to anything but the
barometer. If the observer has telegraphed
that the barometer is "30.06" the officer ut
work puts these figures on the map at the
proper station. He looks back twenty-iour
hours and finds the barometer was 3017,
showing difference of eleven hundredths,
which he puts on tho current map, marking it
Ill, or minus IL. If, eight hours previous, the
barometer was 1898 there is shown II rise of
ID in eight hours, and the difference is
marked on tho map plus l3. The height of
the barometer at moment of observation is
then pus down in the center of u circle on the
map, above them are written the figures in
dicating the amount Of rise in the past eight
hours and below the difference between the
figures of the current observation and that of
twenty-four hours previous. Now he con-
meets on the map by means Of a red line those
stations which show an equal bar0metric
change in the last twenty-four hours, and
with blue line those stations which have an
equal barometric pressure in tho past eight
hours These arc the actual changes that
have takon place, and hence this map Is called
the actual Change Map"
The second barometer map is called the
abnormal Change Map The barometer al
ways falls a little from q, m. to 3 p. m. ut
this station, which is n normal change. In
January at p IN. it is about ,00l less than at
"a. m. AT 10 a. m. il is at its maximum, at 3
p, m, at its minimum. This change varies
according to location. The map shows whether
the barometer is above or below the normal
for that observation and date. For example
On Jan. 10 ut a. m, at Mobile 1t read 300l1,
or 02 above the normal. Tho normal should
be 30.02l, showing the actual fall to be .007
since midnight, or normal fall of 00S since
the normal at midnight is ,020 and at u. M,
.02l.
Exactly the same plan is used with
THE TEMPERATURES MAP"
thus showing the actual state of temperature
and actual changes for twenty -four and eight
hours, and the abnormal changes for eight
hours with the height above and below the
normal.
Tho "cloud map" shows the kind and
amount of clouds, and the direction in which
they move On the u. Il map Is shown the
minimum temperature Of the day before, and
on the p. m. may the maXimlm temper
ature Of tho current day. The amount of
Uloudiness is shown by horizontal blue lines,
A being the maximum The kind of cloud is
indicated by the kind Of line, A cirrus cloud
by jagged line a cumuus by succession
Oi small clouded lines a stratus by u Jagged
line, and other kinds OF clouds by combining
these three Sleet aud snow are represented