Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-23

sohE STARTLING CIPHER DISPATCHES h6CEi'ED
BY THE WEATHER BUREAU-How THE MAPS ARE
coSsrRUcrED-ovER 100 MEN HAVE HAND IN
OUR WEATHER.
Prof. Mark W. Harrington, chief Of the
weather bureau. tells the following story in the
Boston Globe of how the forecasts are made:
At 8 O'Clock every morning and evening.
eastern standard time. small army of $50
Americans 60 through curious evolution.
The most curious feature Of the evolution
consists in the fact that no two Of the men are
in sight Of each other. but are scattered over
the United States from Eastport to San Diego,
and from Kew West to Tatoosh Island.
| Another curious feature Of this evolution is
\ that it consists in the examination OF instru-
ments and registry Of observations, and not in
| the handling of guns.
] The evolution begins with the setting OF the
barometer and ends with hasty deploy to the
/ nearest telegraph station. The order, the pre-
clsion and the timing of the different parts Of
this evolution are regulated with the greatest
possible accuracy
The object OF all this is the telegram to be
sent TO the main Office at Washington.
| This telegram has to include the data from
each station needed for the semi-daly weather
map. and this telegram is not the least interest
/ ing and curious part of the work of the weather
| bureau
| To shorten the telegram it is put in a cipher
which is very concise. and mt the same time SO
arranged as to avoid the probability of error in
Transmission. The plan Of the cipher is rather
complicated but some specimens may be given
here regular morning report reads:
York us soggy get cab regular peanut"
This cipher when translated reads:
New FORK city. s m. the barometer stands
at thirty inches. the thermometer at zero The
Wind Is northwest and it has showed to depth
OF four inches.
The velocity of the wind is fortv-four miles
per hour. The minimum temperature il zero
and the dew point Zero. The sky is half COW
cred with nimbus clouds moving southeast
When the wind was highest the velocity was
sixty miles and direction west
The words of the cipher are of course. Sc
lected without reference to their meaning and
very curious combinations sometimes occur
For instance, observer Detroit salute Ohio
northeast does not dictate anything in the
| conduct of the observer at Detroit 1t only
directs him to hoist Ger tain cautionary Signals
In his district
The words. Paul baby nervous doctor calling
fussy mama naggy nurse anarchy" would make
| perfectly consistent and proper meteorological
dispatch from ST. Paul; so much 30 that a
weather observer might easily send it without
noticing the ominous domestic storm suggested
by this collection Of words
AT about S:45, morning and evening. the tele-
graph room In the weather bureau at Washing
ton becomes more vocal than at other times
with the rattle % its instruments.
Operators take off the startling combinations
OF words which come pouring in and transfer
| them directly to typewriter copies. and u
messenger hastens 10 and fro between this room
/ and the forecast room.
In the forecast room are ten men whose
duties are unique.
There is first the translator. whose duties
consist in taking the kilograms in cipher from
the hands OF the messenger and translating
them, ON sight and orally. for the benefit OF the
rest The curious tumble OF words which
come into his hands never puts him at fault.
| linen there are four mapmakers. who make
| each a separate map from the dictation of the
| translator. One map shows the changes in air
| pressure. another those Of temperature and
another the clouds and winds.
The fourth map-which is technically map
| No l the future weather map which will be
printed; The others are simply for the use of
| the forecast official
| This accounts for half the men in the room
The others are two compositors. one symbol
| man. one clerk for special messages and the
| forecast official himself.
| The two competitors set up from the dicta-
| tion of the translator aud the calls of changes
| OF pressure and temperature from the CLERKS
In charge of the corresponding mups) the table
! which appears on the right-hand side OF the
! Washington weather man.
Their work is made easier bv what are called
'loSotypes. that Is. types with several letters
or figures on each piece
For instance. the letters 1t. which appear
IN next to the last column. mean light (wind).
They are on one piece OF tvpe. The same is
true for the ''29'' and 80" which occur so
often IN the first column of figures.
The symbol man is compositor Of an
especial kind. He sets in their proper place in
| n skeleton base map the symbols for direction
OF wind, clouds and rain or snow, as they appear
| on the map.
Last, and most important, is the forecast
! official. His duties are delicate and peculiar
| as 1t belongs exclusively to him 70 make from
the map the forecast for thirty-six hours ahead
When the ista have been entered by the
clerk on MAG No be takes IL to hiuiseif to
eo=-piete. and the clerk stands BY to take the
forecasts from his dictation and hand them
over TO the CONF ositors who. having now COM
p.eted the table, set up the forecasts which ap-
| pear In the lower left-hand corner OF the map
| The forecast oflciai first draws in the .'iso-
bars is, the lines which pass through all
points on the map having the same pressure.
These afford him a key to the meteorological
| situation and are the best guides in predictions
| He then draws the ''isotherms" on lines
passing through the points having the same
| temperature.
He now dictates his forecasts. and in these
he is guided by the maps constructed by his
| knowledge and experience. and also by n sort
| of instinct which is incapable of definition. but
which. it is safe to say, is not possessed by
|
As soon as map is completed and the fore
casts from it made ii is taken to the lithog-
! rapher, drawn on stone and run through the
press.
The printed copies are then placed in the
| hands Of messengers on bicycles and distrib-
uted with the least possible delay to mail trains
and to the public places where they are to be
| displayed.
The forecasts should be finished by 10 o'clock
| and the printed copies in the hands of the mes
| sengers before IL o'clock.
such is the making Of the map at the main
Office a. Washington.
| With changes in details. much the same proc
ess is gone through at seventy-three other
stations in the United Subsequently, in the
| great cities. The maps ut these stations arc
smaller and lesscomplete. but they are often
| beautiful specimens of workmanship.
| In all about 5000 weather maps on SEPARATE
Sheets are issued daily. or about 2, 100, 900 per
year.
! Still smaller maps are now printed in many
/ of the great metropolitan dailies.
| For the preparation o: newspaper maps a
metallic plate coated with chalk is used. The
| map is drawn by skilled person. usually an
| employe OF the bureau. in the chalk coating by
means Of a needle point, and from this plate a
stereotype is taken.
| The number of copies of maps daily made in
this way cannot be ascertained. it depends
\ on the daily edition of the newspapers making
use OF them. 1t is safe to estimate it, however.
0 M