The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-24
WIZARDS OF THE WEATHER.
How Uncle Sans meteorological Tip
Stors w ork.
From the Ne,o York stor.


From the Mem YDri; St0r.
In nearly every city of prominence, from
Maine to California, is stationed
man whose sole business is to
ksep an eye on the weather The govern
ment pays him, feeds him, gives him the nee
esSary instruments for observation, and calls
HIM soldier But the public, for whose
benefit all this done, usually berates him
and vows he bears more resemblance to the
long -eared animal that hauls The army bag
| gage. For many years the signal service
Las been obliged to bear the sings and
and arrows of an outraged public, without
| other retaliation than tnat of occasionally
pouring down water upon the heads OF
its alleged traducers, showing them up,
roasting, freezing or blowing them into sub
| lection.
There are nearly $50 signal service sta
tions in the United States, employing at
present about $50 men. They are graded
in rank from privates to lieutenants, with
Gen A. w. Greedy as cdief of the depart
ment OF these $50 men 100 will be dis
charged on Sept. 1, for no other cause
than that the weather appropriation made
by congress in the last session won't allow
of their retention in the service.
The average weather maker is somewhat
of a nomad. He travels whittier the de-
partment at Washington wills, and is
liable to freeze at a Dakota station one win
ter, and bake at Florida station the next
summer He Is conscientious to degree,
economical from necessity, and thor
| oughly good fellow, despite his theory that
the world lives in the clouds.
The weather prediction, which is the
most important part OF newspaper 10
many people, and Is at least interesting TO
everybody is peculiar production, and at
49, acip Ia midi vi
| who is considered the greatest scientific
weather prophet of the age. This is Lieut.
Dunwoody, and ne lives at Washington,
| where he visits the headquarte OF the
| signal service daily to predict the weather
| for the whole country. The lieutenant in
stead of gazing at the sky with big tele-
| scope, as many people imagine, SIMPLY Sits
at a large tabls, on which are scattered a
number of maps bearing telegrapnlc mark
| ings of storms, storm centers, high and low
| barometers and the general state of the
weather in every section of the country.
| From these data alone he Is able TO toretell
| approximately which way storm Will
move and what time it will reach certain
spot The lieutenant has been i'll the signal
| service for sixteen years. There are two
| other lieutenantS, also stationed at Wash
| ington, whose predictions are occasionally
seen. One of them, Lieut.. Craig, is the act
ing chief signal officer is Gen. Greely's alb
senCe.
AT o'clock every morning, Washington
! time, the weather observer at each station
| throughout the United States takes his OBJ
| servatlon, which he at once telegraphs to
Washington. From this observation is
made the prediction which the afternoon
papers publish. At o'clock in the even
ing a second observation is made, which re-
suits in a prediction that is published in the
morning papers.
The cost of fitting out a signal service
station is about S., 600 The yearly allow
ance for incidental expenses is $500, and big
stations, like the one on the ppmost.f floor of
thAEquitable building i'll thiScity, despite
the fact that they have no rent to pay, have
a hard time to make both ends meet when
Jan. l arrives.
Although the New York station does not
make predictions, as it has often been held
accountable foH doing, it is the second sta
| ton in Importance to Washington Through
| it pass all the Geographic reports OF the
| weather from the north, east and west. In
| the office is a small printing establishment
containing cases filled with type, an old
| fashioned Washington printing press, re-
| sembllng somewhat cider press, and all the
paraphernalia for getting out small sheet.
| Ii is here that the printed forecasts and
maps of the signal service which are
/ seen posted up in various places are
! printed.
The head of the New York offices Sergt
Dunn, one of the most popular men i'll the
service as well as one Of tue most pro-
ficient. Mr.. Dunn is a young man of medium
h ght and build, with dark brown eyes and
hair, clear cut features and With an ex-
preston that suggests keenness of intellect
blended with joviali;y. 1t is by his order
that millions OF dollars worth of shipping
is warned of approaching storms by means
of small flags of different colors. shapes
and designs. To Mr.. Dunn is credited the
disco very of thu horrible aud significant
word, humidity"
A few of the signal services maximSsre-
garding the weather are: "A low barome-
ter signifies storm center" "winds blow in
to a storm center ;""5torms move spirally;"
''the velocity OF the wind does not indicate
the velocity at which a storm is moving in
any direction;n storm may move in Cir
Gle and create a cyclone by the air thrown
off from its center"
The chief Instruments used are barome-
ters. thermometers and thermometers. There
are many other devices for calculating the
winds velocity, the atmospheric moisture
and temperature, but the principle of for
telling weather hinges on combination of
science and brains, and each helps the
other out or into hole.
A SOCIETY HIGH KICKER,