Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-08-25

The only rule about it is that there
are no rules
The local forecaster of the Signal
Service, Sergeant Dey, who keeps
watch on the elements from his eyrie
on top OF the post office building and
tells Philadelphia folk what weather
they may expect, says the Philadelphia
Times, had been asked how forcasting
was done, and this was his answer
Many people imagine he went on,
that our predictions are made by fol
lowing set of wellestlblished and
lntalllble weather signs, and that Il
man has only to learn these and he is
forthwith qualified TO predict with GER
tain,S the weather. Nothing is farther
from the truth. OF course, there are
certain laws Of nature from which we
do reason, but we supplement- these
with careful study of the weather
map, observation of local weather
phonomena and, over and above all,
a certain sort of intuilive knowledge,
which comes to the furecaster through
experience and which he couldn't pos
slbly communicate to others. l don't
kpoW any set prescriptions for fore
casting weather, and, if l did, be as
sured,' with Il significant smile, Il
wouldn't give is away"
While he spoke the weather map lay
spread OUT before him, criss-crossed
with red and blue lines, scrawled over
with mysterious symbols and figures
breaking out here and there in patches
OF red and violet and black, looking
more like puzzle than the chart
which gave a comprehensive view Of
yesterdays weather the country over
ard from which deductions as 10 to-
days were to be drawn. The weather
map is based on observations made
every morning and evening at s o'clock
all through tie United States and Cana
da, and is issued every day. The reg
lister Of The barometer and thermom-
etor, the state of the Sky, whether
cloudless or otherwise, the direction
and velocity of the wind, the amount
Of rainfall and SnOWfall-all that is
summed up i'll the comprehensive word
weather. are noted i'll these obServa-
tons, and daia regarding them are tele
sraphed in cypher to the central sig
nal service station ut Washington and
also TO the other stations
This is our guide in making all our
predictions" said Forecaster Dey, lay
ing one emphatic finger on the map
on which all hands in the office were
az work, as it was nearing 10 IL m,
the time it was to be issued in it's com
plele form. One operator attended the
necessarily ticking telegraph, which
brought the reports, written in cipher
for the sake of speed and condensation,
as to the state of the weather in the
different cities. These reports were
handed to the forecaster. as he sat at
his desk busily putting in isotherms,'
which technical term being interpreted,
meant jotting down on each station on
the map the figures representing its
thermometer register and then draw
ing light dotted lines, one for every
10 degrees reading of the thermometer,
to connect places having the same
temperature. Heavy lines, called iso-
bars, are also drawn through or near
places having the same barometer
readings.
The mysterious shaded, semi-shaded
and clear circles which occur with be-
Wildering frequency on the map in
dictate whether the day in The place
thus marked is clear, cloudy or partly
cloudy, rainy or snowy, and the arrows
placed beside them show the direction
of the wind. An assistant, reading
from the telegraph reports, has been
making these in their proper places
with q stencil on a sheet of tracing
linen, and when the temperature and
pressure lines have all been put in, the
map is placed under the tracing linen
and transferred to it with The stencil.
Then it was ready for the record Of
the increase in rainfall or the rising
or falling Of the temperature which
had taken place since the previous
day Lines were first drawn on a map,
inclosing all places where it had grown
10 degrees warmer or more, and those
where the thermometer had fallen 10
degrees or more, and where the rainfall
has been one-quarter Of an inch Oh
more similarly Enclosed.
The inclosed sections were then cut
out of the map, which was placed over
a completely drawn one, and rollers
linked with black, which means rain, -
violet, which means colder" and red,
indicating warmer weather, were pass
ed over the surface, and, Of course, the
lower map received a patch Of color,
where ihe sections had been cut out
in the upper one.
The stenciling off Of the whole map
completes the process, and now the
weather prophets must wrinkle their
brows over the problem as to what the
morrow will bring forth, judging from
iile weather today.
"You see, now" remarked Forecast
er Dey, why we can not say that GER
tain definite Indications mean certain
definite phases of weather. There are
SO many conflicting elements, and they
all modify one another. For instance,
heavy black cloud means rain; but ]
can't go by that cloud alone. After
studying the wind, the barometer. the
thermometer and the weather man.