Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1888-03-04
How Unele SoD Notes the
vagaKies Of tho
Elenentn.
HsthsAs FslIsvsd b Signal oAsen =
TAktng Reess1s 81 Making Prelis.
tssas Ssr Coming Weather.

IAN WEtEo p1o9e9 bcok "SSASo
city, erd in zach Of the LEG efi,es there
10 o clock keeping time correspondence
sith that. The 10th meridian which
rasses about 20 miles east OF Yasims
city. 10 tie one faEteest vest en- which
time 10 reckoned. All stations west Of
that msrisan In taking observations
reckon time a. OF thai meridian. which
il iass three hours faster than the 53th
meridian time.
"The observations are taken stimuli
taneoosiy at all the stations" said Ser
aeant Edgar NcGoverp, the oficef in
charge Of the station al Olympia, Who
vas explaining the workings Of tie sys
tenn 10 the Pos1-fHIxILl0Kxo1n fepos
ter. "rbe hours Of takipR obserya-
tons" continued he, are Q. No., p.
IN. and 10 Q. m, 18th meridian time.
A little calculation will shev Jon that l
have to be on hand a 1 o'clock every
morning, which Is one OF the unpisas
ant features of the business, though
not 90 much noticed after oos becomes
accustomed to IL"
The ofioe at Washinatou il the only
one in the country having q continuous
record, which IL taken By means OF
sels-reeisserinR instruments, from which
can be told What the Temperature vas,
state Of the barometer, or any other OF
the observ atoms required TO be taken,
at any time Of the day OF night.
nov TIE oBsxsvATIozs A1s fAxKs.
Al the hour fog taking an observation
arrives, the observer goes to . wooden
case at one side Of the room, which be
opens and discloses 10 view q bAfone-
ter, the state Of which be notes. Tren
be Rlsuces at q dial on the ceiliae,
which IL connected with Q wind vane
spou the roof, from which he lesfns the
direction Of the wind. Right by his
eide 10 O wooden case mounted uRop .
table, which, when the cover 10 thrown
back, reveals an instrument called the
thermometer, OF wind measureF. TIE
machinery Of clock enclosed in this
case, turns Q cylinder, above which 10
suspended an iron pen. Whenever the
wind has travelled mile since the last
record Vas made. this pen makes q
mark upon the paper cover Of the cyiin
der. indicative Of fact. Upon this pa
Ger are 81 mails showing the honf OF the
day a. marked by the clock. Therefore,
the number Of marks within the space
indicating an hour, shows that the air
vas propelled q corresponding number
Of miles in that length Of time.
All OF these facts duly recorded, the
observer goes upon the roof OF the
building in which bis Office is located,
where, 10 q closet having sides like the
slats OF window blind, TO admit OF Q
free circulation Of air but protecting
from tie wind, are his thermometers.
Ia one thc mercury has registered the
lowest Temperature since the last onssr-
| Walton, 10 another, tbs highest. From
these records tbs average Temperature
IL obtained. In this same enclosure IL
An instrument technically known as the
| vhiried psycsroneisr, the mission OF
which, 10 to tell 81 What Temperature
dew viil form, on which IL based the
relative humidity of the atmosphere.
This Is au important feature OF tie ser
vice as By 10 frosts may be fosetoio
For instance, IL at an observation In the
evening. tbs mercury stauds at 40 and
tue dew point Is thirty, IL Is known there
viii bs frost IL tbs mercury should
during the night descend to the fretz
lloyd oiut. II, on the other hand, tie
dew point Is found 10 he the freezing
Ioips there will not be frost when the
mercury reaches that point because dew
will then form and the heat which IL
gives forth will averl the frost.
Go the very apex Of the roof stands
queer shaped urn, which looks as IL il
might have been intended 10 answer
for a miisman's can. The cover is re-
moved and still the Illusion il not dis
PEELED; II is found to contain water. An
inQairiue glance 81 the fecs OF the sig
nal service officer by the reporter tn
duced he coveted explanation. IL vas
q rain 0suas and told how mach mois-
tnre had fallen since the last obsefva-
ton. From these data the report 10
made.
All the offioers 81 the Paciac slope
telegraph their reports to San Francis
o., whence they are forwarded 10 Wash
ington. The object Of all this is that
the Temperature, density of the a;mos
phere. etste OF the barometer etc, Ia.
zen simultaneously all over the Uoited
States. may be known 10 Old Probabiii-
ties st Washington, Who proanosticstes
therefrom the Weather fcr esoh section
OF The county east Of the Rocky noun
tains for the next "a hours. The Office
at San Francisco deals oct the weather
for the Pacific slope In addition 10
the things already noted, observations
are taken OF the o.os6s aud of the coier
Of the skies At sunset, all Of hich co
ssfs into the mputations fran va;oh
the forecast Of the weather IL made.
WHY TRERMoMI1ERs DIVER.
One thing ID a b ID often paxxlsd tue |
reporter and as be presumes 10 has |
otnsrs, the explanation which va Sc
cured from the signal service offiser il |
gtgep. ]. has been often noticed that /
when after a particularly hot or cold |
day psople were CON airing the rec
ords Of their respective Thermometers.
q great discf- psncy always exist.d,
Id the same locality max
ina records several degrees apart. This
u oecause - many Thermometers are
poor. From The cheap ones, which are
accurate TO, time, some part Of the
rsrecry IL 50; TO eaca.s soon aud, Of
,0gFse, tbs smaller the amount left 10
he table tie greater she eEfsct OF cor
responding degrees Of beat ans col, !
hence IN suso them ometer the mer
ssfy viii Indicate 9 greater degree Of
stther hesi OF cold inaa really exists"
sfics heartc2 thii explanation the re-
porser registered mental vor nsver
" w 70 AccI>c Suy oDe OF Tot B9.lS
N enalasor OF tts immortal Washing
90 With whom he could Got agree a. 10 |
he aitil1ds Of the mercury, ba, rather
o chsrirsbiy eolelaae that his tasr-
leaked.
Tee signal service il branch OF tie
Far cepsrimsns and sii the observers
&c apgointe: by the secretary OF var.
Ihey al nsvs 10 BE- telegraph operators
I'D mast he skiil@d In netsoyni ~ srd |
sisitary signalling All esvs the rank |
Z sergeant an3 are sshtsct 10 cour, |
asrii.i ard other rniss AMI regulations |
Z gar. Cntii ave years ago there ga. /
n order repairing tie observers to |
hauss from one station 10 snotAs.
very too sesra TITS vss dJus for
ar 800 many social ties v-ald be
armed and taos possibly cause a neg
.ct Of duty. lie ssiSFs OF tie 90
-rvers ranges .rcm So - 10 SIP 30 1
er ninth, gosSrcia1 10 TIA suss7ni o, =
orb TO be ps,forE.sd-
All Dispatches Grs seat IL eiyasr 70.
- sake % economy. The v3<s.s and
are nnn Ss-sd, esca obser-
r. having 9 key" Fur tcstsIce /. ].
l. barometer s.sEts az s. and the q
ssfuemstsr 81 ~ eeErsss sasvs frees "a
- tie stsele word forge siA ac- p
! sfsss sA< 1Ankrr.sSns "a ~z.hs~1sr-, a: