Middletown transcript., 1891-03-05
roREeAsTrNa THE WEATHER.
NOW THE AMERICAN SIGNAL SER
VICE IS MANAGED.

phenomena of the air, Joined with the
vide extersion Of ielegraphlc COM
mnnication, has led tothe development
ofa new and very useful and interest
inc branch Of science, namely the
daily forcasting Of the weather at
hand including storms, ordinary winds, p:
changes Of temperature and condition
of the atmosphere as to clearness Z or
cloudiness.
The United States has led other
nations in this work. partly because
i,s people are very practical and
progressive, and partly because the
union of vast extent Of country
over which the telegraph extends,
under one central government, has
\ Given here q chance for simultaneous
Weather reports from a great region.
We say simultaneous reports, Pc
canse the secret Of success in weather
forecasting lies in the chance to obtain
s;mnltaneous observations from many
points. scattered throughout great
extent of country.
At about 200 points, at the same
moment of time all the observers are
reading their weather instruments
the barometer, the thermometer, the
anemometer and the rain gauge-all
;n the same order. When their
readings are completed, they are at
once 70 Washington, and the forecast
official there is able to put down upon
a map all the conditions Of weather
prevailing throughout the accessible
part of the continent.
Having made this map, hesees at q
Glance which way all the winds are
blowing, where it is raining or SNOW
ing, where the air is cold and where
II is warm, and where there is one
of those storm centres toward which
all the surrounding winds are tend
ing and which is bound to move in
an easterly cuurse, carrying storms
with it to sections we're all local be-
tokenings may be perfectly fair.
The old fashioned weather prophet
always looked at the face of the sky
before be prognosticated. The
modern weather forecasting official
never does that. His predictions
could be made as we'll as if he never
saw the sky at all. He is governed
completely by the record of the
weather instruments.
The forecasts Of the weather which
are daily published throughout the
United States are made at the present
time by the Signal Corps Of the
United States Army. Nominally, the
duties ofthis corps are, first of all, te
transmit messages by means of signals
for the ordinary service of the army
Although this corps, acting under
orders Of the Secretary of tbs War
began making weather forecasts in
the year 1870, and has continued tc
make them every since, these fore.
casts had never been regularly
provided for by law until the passage
Of an act Of Congress last year
Congress has now passed an act to
transfer the weather service from the
War Department TO the Department
of Agriculture, and to organize it on
definite basis. The formal transfer
Of the service will not, however, take
place until June, 1891, and ior the
present the local observers of the
weather service, though they have no
military duties or surroundings, re-
main Sergeants of the United States
The SIGNAL service predictions ol
the weather which are seen daily in
the newspapers, OF printed upon the
daily official maps or charts, of which
more than a million were published
and circulated during the last fscal
year, are made by different officers Of
the corps. working at Washington
who are assigned TO the duty Of fore
casting, each one for period Of two,
or at most, three months.
The predictions Of these officers are
formally veri6ed-that is, record is
kept ofthe proportion Of their pre-
dictions which are successful. One
officer, during the last year, was able
to predict the weather correctly
eighty six times out of a hundred
while the least su ,cessful forecast off.
cial predicted accurately eighty times
out Of hundred.
The general average of successful
forecasts was "a for weather and 70
for temperature. The signals which
are displayed to give warning Of
storms have been found to be justified
in 81 cases out of 100.
The forecasts of the weather sent
from Washington are for a whole
State or a large section, and often dc
not accurately cover the weather il
special localities. But some 30 of tht
local observers are permitted to make
and publish local forecasts.