The Portland daily press., 1889-12-18
THE CLERK or THE WEATHER IN TOWN
Portiand's Peculiar Position as a
Station OF Observation.
The Storms That Pounce Upon Us
and Where They Are Born.
Some Suggestions to the Towns that
wish to Float Weather Flags.

was Lieutenant Jno. Finley, who intro
aacas himself as an inspector in the United
states signal service. But Lieut.. Finley is a
much more important person than mere in
spector. he is the veritable clerk Of the
weather. having oversightsf all the men and
means employed for looking out for the
weather in New England and the Middle
Atlantic States. he goes as far west as Buff
10. as far south as Harrisburg, Pa, and as
ar east as Passport, Maine. He knows al,
about the storms, whirlwinds and tornadoes
that infest New England, besides having
wide reputation for scientifically acquired
knowledge OF the fearful and wonderful tor
nadoes that drive the settlers of the West to
holes in the ground when they behold the
tunnel -shaped" cloud from afar. Lieut.
Finley has published several books upon this
SUBJECT that have given him a wide reputa-
ton among scientific people.
But Lieut.: Finley's trip to Maine this time
is concerned with no terrible storms, but is
merely LOT the inspection of the workings of
the signal service In Maine. He has been to
PASSPORT. and has made some recommended
tons that ought to increase tho efficiency of
that station If carried out. He has found
tnat the signal service is already very pop
ordering their fishing business by the
weather reports. As Eastport is very i'm
portant station, being the most easterly in
the United States, Lieut.. Finley has recon-
mended thatsit be made station of the first
class: This would give the station self-reg-
istering instruments Of the first class, and
allow the employment of an extra observer.
Lieut.. Finley will also recommend that a
daily despatch be sent to Eastport at about
10 a. N: for the benefit of shipmasters about
than IN know inst vyhaf fhax,
fall In with, and would of course be of great
advantage.
!. EastpOrt is really a much important sta
ton than Portland, which is only a station
OF the second class. The fact is, Portland is
very unfortunately situated for weather OBJ
sseryations. Its, .land-locked by the Cape
and Islands. and the central part of the city,
where the signal station is located, is SO
shielded by the high lands of the promen-
AIDES that the observations are very defective.
a gentle northerly wind may be blowing in
Portland on Middle street, while out at Port
land Head Light there may be heavy east
erly wind. This unfortunate pecpliarity
OF Portland's position has an unfavorable
eject upon the reports of the signal officer
here, and his reports in turn have disturb
Ing effect upon the forecasts Of the weather
made at Washington. To remedy this diff
Guilty Lieut.. Finley will recommend that
branch station be established at Portland
Z Head Light, or at the Two Lights. where
the direction and velocity of the wind and q
few other conditions may be taken. This, in
his opinion, will remedy the difficulties
arising from the peculiar location of the
city. u sst.
v Lieut. Finley regards the signal service as
one of the greatest institutions in the
country, as 1t undoubtedly is, but he admits
that It does not always get in ahead of the
storms. 1t dees SO in rs or so cases out of
every 100, which Is better than any other
weather prophets ever did. There are, how
ever, two obstacles that have not yet been
overcome, and until they are storm will oc
casionally pounce down upon the nation
without warning. you see," says Lieut..
Finley, "all our storms, except your local
tornadUes, which are rare, and the hail
storms, which are these tornadoes up In the
air, come from one of three sources, from the
Pacific coast In the latitude of California,
from the Saskatchewan valley up beyond
Manitoba, or from the West Indies. The
California storms we know about at once,
and are never surprised by them. But the
Sas katchewan storms, gathering in the ire
mendOus wastes which are roamed over only
by the Indian. the hunter and the buffalo,
and. where there are no telegraph lines to
send word of their coming ahead. sweep
down upon northern Montana and Dakota
and into the. Mississippi valley before we
can warn the inhabitants. But this difficulty
have ample warning as soon as the storm
crosses the boundary line of Canada. The
storms that take New England unawares are
those coming from the West Indies. The
poserty-strieken governments Of those ISL
ands can afford no signal stations, and Con-
gress thinks that Uncle Sam has no right to
use the peoples money for building anything
IN foreign country; so we know nothing of
these West India storms until they strike
our coasts. They. generally strike some
they. are very bad, because they are un-
heralded. Sometimes one of these foreign
lmp0rtatiOns meets one of our own storms
from the interior, and then you may safely
say that Eolus has let all the winds out The
New York blizzard, in which Roscoe Conk-
ling got his death sickness, was a storm of
this origin. These West India storms prevail
between August 20 and November 20, but
they are liable to come at other seasons. In
Maine you get from three to FIVE of these
storms year. But all the western storms
pass over New England. In fact this region,
with the st. Lawrence valley, is the great
jumping off place for all the western storms
on their way to the Atlantic and Europe.
Most Of them are lost in the Atlantic, but
some of them reach Europe. And when we
had the system OF cooperation with foreign
stations have traced storm from British
Columbia southwark into the United States,
across the North Atlantic to Europe, across
England, Germany, Russia, northern Asia to
the last Russian station in Siberia. whence
It plunged across Behring Sea to disappear
finally In the unknown wastes of ALASKA"
But to return to Maine," said Lieut..
Finley, II may say that the farming portions
of this State might use the advantages of
the signal service more than they do. Any
t,wn In Maine that wants to have weather
flags displayed on its flag pole may have a
free desnatch from the weather bureau each
day, II 1t is on telegraph line. The govern
lnent pays for the telegraphing. If the town
Is on telephone line II would have to pay
the expenses of telephoning from the nearest
telegraph Office. The farmers of the west
understand the value of this privilege, and
every little town has its weather flags. From
Springfield, Ill, our service supplies 165
smaller places about. In Ohio the railroad
trains wear the weather flags, telling all the
people along their routes what the weather
Is to be for the next IL or "a hours. You may
say that IL any people in Maine have any
suggestions to make about what they would
like of the service or have any requests to
make that l should be glad to hear from
them. They may direct to me. at the signal