The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-17
is A WEATHER PROPHET.
DeVoe Tells How He Knows When
1t Is Going to Rain or shine.

DeVOe Tells How He Knows When
II Is Going to Rain or shine.
A man is in Savannah to-day, who,
by his own admission, can predict just
what sort of weather there will be any
where on the globe on July 16, 1904.
He can tell you whether it will be a
hot, sultry day, a pleasant day, a cool,
cloudy day, cold. rainy day, or day
of thunderstorms, or cyclones, or hur-
ricanes.
Mr.. A. ]. DeVoe of Hackensack, N.
j., is professional and widely known
weather prophet. He was seen yester-
day by a representative of the Morn
ing News, to whom he talked at length
about his methods. his observations
and his experiences.
Impelled by a natural curiosity to
know just wherein lay the secret of an
ability to prognosticate the condition
of day in the fullness of three years
time, the newspaper man asked Mr..
DeNoe how he himself accounted for
his gift-if it We're by some intuitive
faculty that he mastered the secret of
meteorological laws. Mr.. DeVoe has
tened to disclaim any occult gift. say
ing that he made his predictions from
astronomical calculations.
Il can tell what the condition of the
weather will be at any time within
three years." said Mr.. DeVoe. Il could
make predictions that would be veri-
fed, in fact, at even more remote pc
RODS. could but obtain the astronom-
a I HrNxx xrea,-
as the observatory at Washington will
not give them out fruther than three
years in advance. The consequence is
that / have to be content with predic-
tons that do not run beyond three
years.
Il am all right as a weather prophet.
My predictions come true when those
of the United States Weather Bureau
do not. The trouble with the weather
bureau is that it can only get it's re-
ports of conditions as they may happen
to be at any particular time. Anything
its observers do not see, they cannot
report. Now that plan is palpably
wrong 1t may be bright and clear at
some place, yet a storm might drop
down at once. l know where the storms
are and just when to look for them at
any place. There is as much difference
between my methods and those of the
weather DuTedu dS IH6TG Is between
day and night, between black and
white"
Then Mr.. DeVoe went on with a long
recital of instances in which his pre-
dictions had proven correct, and those
of the Weather Bureau had not. He
said he is right more often than the
Weather Bureau. He predicted the
great Charleston cyclone of 1885 and
the Galveston storm, he declared, long
before they visited those places. He fig
ured out from a weather disturbance
in the east, he said, that the city of
Charleston would catch the cyclone.
The New York Sun published his pro-
phecy, and sure enough the cyclone
landed.
Mr.. De Voc says it doesn't require
very much work to frame up his pre-
dictions for three years ahead. All he
needs is a map and a pair of COM
passes He has to do a great deal Of
measuring but that is all there is to
it, as he has his methods clearly in
his head. He gave out a forecast for
this vicinity. Here it is: Every day
this week there is going to be rain,
with sultry weather. Therell be rain
next Sunday. and the weather all next
week will be quite cool. Then the tenn
perature will rise and there will be a
heavy thunderstorm here on Sunday
july Il. A rising temperature and Sultry
weather will mark the period from July
% to %, when a very important storm
will begin to form along the Atlantic
coast. A very decided fall in temper
allure may be looked for, and there is
danger OF storm along the coast from
July % to July 80. The storm won't
go north, but will back up and go
southeast. The last of July, August
and September is the time West In
dian storms may be looked for in this
region
Mr.. De Voc is well known
as the forecaster for almanacs.
Farmers in many sections of
the country believe implicitly
in his predictions, and there are many
PEOPLE who are regular subscribers to
his monthly forecasts. In talking about
his profession, Mr.. De Voc said his first
pI PREDICTION was made when he was g
years old. While at Hackensack he
then predicted a thunderstorm at Bal
timore, 1875 miles away. 1t arrived. In
1885 he went into the business regular
ly, making his first public prediction,
which was verified. He cine to Savan-
nah from Chattanooga. where he had
been on business, and will take the
Kansas City to-day for New York.