The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-08-04
WEATHER REPORTS.
HOW OBSERVATIONS ARE MADE
AT A SIGNAL STATION.
Gathering Facts as a Basis for "Old
Probabilities'-Wa the
Weather and Issuing
the Bulletins.

building, where the agents of the Signal
Service Bureau used to collect samples of
weather, has been torn away to make
room for one much taller, which is part
of the plan for remodeling the build
ing. Temporarily the signal o:fce has
been removed to another tower, perhaps
not quite 30 tall, yet high enough to en-
able keen observer to note any weather
that may happen around it, Oh the south
east corner of that same ediice. It will
be hoisted two or three stories higher
over the front, after while, and from
that elevation the weatherwise young
men who perch up there EXPECT to peep
over the edge of the world on fair days.
This 81 gnal station began to superin-
tend the weather on November &, 1870,
and has had sharp eye continuously
upon tho doings of the prince of the
Power of the Air" ever since. Sergeant
H. J. Penrod is in charge of both this
station and the Marine Agency, at the
Maritime Exchange, but occupies HIM
self most of the time at the latter place,
leaving Sergeant Z. B. Dunn to rule the
roost on the Equitable building. The
assistants are Sergeants Francis Long
Qate of the Greely expedition) and 9. A.
Warren, and Messrs. u. A. Loveland, r.
E. Hinman, and L. F. Pas ailaigue. The
work done at the Marine Agency consists
mainly in comparing ships barometers
and receiving and forwarding to Wash
ington observations taken at sci by ship
masters. That which falls to the share
of the signal station men is much closer
to the popular interest, for this is one of
the principal points in the great system
by which the public daily gets authorita-
tive official information as to the sort of
weather it is going to have, provided
it doesn't have some other kind.
The hours Of duty are divided into
eight hours each, but as there are four
men two are on together in the middle of
the day. Seven observations day are
taken and recorded. and three of these
are reported to headq quarters at Washing
ton. The hours for observations are at
3, Z, and II A. NJ, and 3, 7, 10, and II
Pm. Those taken at 7 A. NJ. and and
II p. NJ. are the ones telegraphed on to
Washington to be used with others from
all parts of the country in making up the
newspaper reports of weather probabili-
ties. This explanation will, it is to be
hoped, be deemed a sufficient refutation
of the story that General w. B. Hazen,
Chief Signal Officer, guesses for those
reports by the feel of his corns, shrewd
observations on the habits Of pigs, the
b:eastbones of geese, and other occult
sources of information.
Taking the observations includes TAX
ing the records of the automatic self-re-
gistering barometer and thermometer,
reading the thermometers and noting the
direction of the winds, The look of the
clouds, the state of the weather, and
the rainfall, if any. Another and indie
pendent obser .ation is made at 2 p. NJ.
each day by Sergeant Long on the tenn
perature and depth of the North River,
for which he goes down to Pier 13, at
the foot of Cedar street.
Telegraphic circuits bring to this
station every morning duplicates OF all
the reports made from the 100 or more
other stations to Washington. These all
come in cipher, which has to be trans
lated. A morning. dispatch, for instance,
that reads: "Mocking-Finely-Ga
- Habit = III - Pintail - Vice." means
Barometer reading 1894; temperature
of exposed thermometer, IS O; tempera-
ture of dew point, 45 10 a; north wind and
clear sky; velocity of the wind, six miles
per hours; three-tenths Of the cloud
stratus moving from the southwest;
lowest temperature since last reading,
61o."
From these reports bulletins are made
out and given to the public. While one
man reads aloud his translation of the
cipher dispatches, another puts upon q
semi-skeleton map of the United States
the reported figures indicating baromet-
rical pressure and temperature at the re-
spective stations whence the reports
come. Then blue and red lines ale drawn
on the map, enclosing irregular Sc, tions
of it, so as to mark ot by the blue lines
and figures where the perature IS high
est and where it is lowest, and by the red
lines and figures the areas in which the
barometrical pressures are highest and
lowest. Final y the map is adorned with
many little arrows, showing by the way
they point, the various dirt ctions in
which the wind has blown at the hour Of
making the report, in differl mt parts OF
the country. That completes the map,
and it is then ready for duplication and
: sending abroad for exposure in public
places, where it can rattle citizens who
try to understand it. The red marks
and the arrows enable one to observe
that when q storm centre IS established
anywhere-a; shown by the lowest baro-
metrical pressure-the winds rush in
from all directions to that common
centre to help the trouble along, Just as
mans creditors concentrate on him at his
period of greatest financial stress.
1t will be seen from this description OF
the work done he: tina; it results simply
in the statement of ascertained facts con-
cerning actual conditions of weather all
over the country. The proud prerogative
of prognostication is monopolizei at
Washington, and conscientious signal
officer here, or at any other station, would
as soon think of lending a dollar to a
total stranger, rs of permitting himself
to say that "it is likely to rain," though,
if the rain were actually falling, he would
not hesitate to affirm the fact to anybody.
--NeD York San.