Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-15

IL any, to be seen in the sky and the amount Of
rainfall. By means Of cipher these facts are
communicated to Washington at once, half
dozen words indicating the exact state Of
things The kilograms thus received are
translated and sent at once to the forecast Off
cial, who notes them down on number Of small
maps Of the United States printed on thin paper.
giving merely the outlines OF the states with
the rivers and MOUNTAINS spotted all over with
small circles showing the location of the sta
tions. One map holds the minimum tempera-
lures. another the current, one the barometric
readings, and so on. until each map is a COM
plete history of what is taking place in GER
tain line all over the land. Thus, on the rain
fall map it can be seen at glance just where it
is raining, and how much. so that there il little
difficulty in reading the present state Of affairs
When all are in the officer begins his work OF
forecasting, which he does in Jumps, as large
as he can make them, sometimes including half
dozen states ct once In single sentence.
ONE GREAT DIFFICULTY.
Herein comes the great difficulty under
which the service has always labored. The
haste with which these forecasts have to be
made in order to make them of any value to
the country necessarily involves a certain per-
centage of error that might otherwise be elm
mated, while it is a rule to make the area COW
cred by a single forecast as large as possible.
Unfortunately the average human being has a
bad habit of regarding himself as being the
center of the universe, whereby he invariably
thinks that all weather predictions are totally
wrong If they should happen to fail in the sort
of weather let down Immediately upon him.
Thus if the service says rain for New York and
it does not rain in one city all Of the inhab
itants of that city unite in condemnlng the
service. whereas it might be raining all over
the rest of the state.
The forecasts made for the country are
sent out over the telegraph wires to the $50 sta
tions. showing just what is expected Of the
weather all over. Here in Washington a
beautiful map is also issued, being first traced
on tissue paper from the officials map, upon
which he jots down his final conclusions, and
then transferred to q photographic stone by q
skilled body of workmen. Each map costs up
ward of a cent, limited edition being issued
for the use Of this city, few in Baltimore and
some in the immediate outlying towns.
This happens twice day, and the poor, re-
viled forecast official gets all of the brunt of
the popular disfavor whenever he happens to
make a slip on a certain point. A strict record
is kept of what he predicts and what follows,
and at the end Of his month an average of cor
rectness is made up and becomes part of the
records of the Office. The correction or tally
ing is done by means OF the observations that
are sent in after the forecast is made. A care
fully prepared system OF marks has been de-
vised so that each success q failure gets its
proper reward or punishment.
CAPT. u. H. G. DUNwooDY.
Now. to get down to the men who do this
work it is safe to say that the list should begin
with the man who has been longest at it, who