New-York tribune., 1901-07-07
WEATHER BUREAU WORK.
THE HEATED TERM Is THE BUSIEST
SEASON FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF
THE LOCAL OFFICE

Inc weather man is harder worked in thes,
Gays of continued heat and altogether too much
sunshine than he is in midwinter when the
variable weather keeps him guessng-and some
times guessing badly. Under present conditions
ne Is hardly able to make a mistake in his
io-ecast Between curious persons those who
"Aious ana those who really have business
WIN the bureau the telephone is in continuous
e@sonapie questions are answered,
ana II keeps every one on the jump Even tba
Ice men or the ambulance surgeons have NOT
had more do
L. H. Emery is in charge of the local Weather
Bureau, and has the title of local foracos+ of
hclal- He has four assistants which i Is
llah the number usually stationed here The
oihces are at No. 100 Broadway and include
large instrument room with the most an
pioNeu weather measuring apparatus The bu-
e"u aiso supports roof garden equipped with
various instruments for measuring the rainfall
direction and velocity of the wind, and flag
pole on which the prospective weather is fore
casted with flags for the benefit of shipping
The first thing one notices on entering the
Office is large frame distinctly labled SNOW
and Ice Bulletin The sarcasm is immense
When one has just come from Broadway where
the temperature is 100 degrees away from zero
The last bulletin posted in the frame bears the
date March 20 and tells of an exceptionally
heaNy fall of snow somewhere in Wisconsin
Near this snow and ice frame a man is busy
hgurlng up the exact percentage of humidity
that particular element of the weather which
is said TO be largely responsible for the many
deaths from heat
How were you forewarned of this hot spelI?"
was question put TO Mr. Emery
Just as We are forewarned of every other
change in the weather. said the official "by
local observations and comparison with the re-
ports from various other stations Our first
bulletin was Fair and warmer Since then il
as been Fair with continued high tempera-
ture.''
The public has become 50 accustomed to de-
pending on the Weather Bureau ii seems hard
Il realize that the service not instituted
until 1870 What did people do before that
time with no one TO blame for the unpleasant
weather and DO whom 10 hang bad jokes
when the weather did unexpected hngs?
The service originally designed for the
benefit Of navigation alone, and for the first
twenty years the work was conducted by the
signal Corps of the army. under the direction Of
the War Department. In 1891 it made
purely scientific bureau and placed under the
control Of the Department Of Agriculture.
There are now one hundred and eighty regu-
lar observing stations scattered through the
United States and the West Indies. each Of
which is operated by one or more trained OBJ
servers. Every station has an equipment which
includes mercurial barometers, thermometers.
wind vanes, rain and snow gauges, anemome-
ters sunshine recorders, therEaographs and de-
vices which register automatically continuous
record Of the changes in the weather they
occur.
An official excuse for the errors in forecastinE
made by the bureau has been framed by F II.
Bigelow, who is professor Of meteorology for
the bureau. 1t reads:
The inevitable failures attending the attempt
to forecast weather conditions for periods Of
from tWenty-fOur TO fOrty-eight hours in
unstable a medium the ever changing at