Woodruff County news., 1902-09-25
UNCLE SAM'S WEATHER MAN.
The Method Employed at the Wnsh- ingtOn Bureau for Making Up
 the Official Map.

Strictly speaking, our weather bu- reau is made up of a great many build- ings scattered all over the United States, and the one at Washinton is the central station that governs and di- rects the smaller ones, and to which they send in their daily reports; for 1t IS by getting reports from all the different sections of the country that Uncle Sam's weather-makers are able to make their predictions. There are 1S0 towns and cities in the United States where there are observation stations, having the same instruments and apparatus as the Washington bu- reau. Now, the observers at these 1SO stations do not spend their time waiting for spiders to crawl out of their holes or looking at the sky to see whether it is red or gray in the even- ing. They look at their thermome- ters, barometers, anemometers, and so on, which are far better guides than all the other signs put together
 At o'clock in the morning and at o'clock in the evening of every day the observer at each one of these
 
 fornia looks at his different instru- ments, and carefully notes what each of them marks. Then he takes look at the sky, to see whether it is fair or raining or showing, and to see what sort of clouds may be sailing about. According to the weather bureau there are seven different kinds of clouds, and it is important that the observer should see what particular kind is hoy- ering around, for each kind means some special kind of weather or some particular state of the atmosphere. When he has finished his observation and noted all the indications, he tele- graphs his report to Washington.
 In that way, then, the Washington station receives an account of the weather at all parts of the country at the same time, and, as you may cas- fly believe, it keeps the four telegraph operators busy receiving the messages that come pouring in soon aft sage is received in the telegraph room it is carried by messen- ger across the hall to the forecast room, or room where predictions are made, and handed to the translator. As the translator reads aloud the cipher reports from the different sta- tions, other men in the room mark what he reads upon map of the United States, so that when the last message has been translated the map shows just what the weather is at each one 4I turned over to the official who is to make the predictions. In order to get his bearings, he traces across the map the different places throughout the country where the temperature is the same and the places where the barom- etor is the same. The one he marks with red lines and the other with black lines, and if you will look at the wealth CT map you will see these red and black lines wrlggling and twisting all over the country.
 When the reports from the north- west show great fall in temperature, he knows that cold wave has started on a journey through the United States, and he keeps a lookout to see how fast it reaches the different stations in the west. Then he calculates how rapidly it is moving and what kind of weather it has to encounter, and perhaps, when he has worked out the problem. he will telegraph the following bulletin: "Hoist cold wave flag; thermometer will fall 30 degrees in next 24 hours," and, sure enough, by next day Jack Frost has got hold of our noses and toes. and the coldwave flag is almost tearing itself to pieces with delight But sometimes the cold wave does not come as was expected-it is switched off on a sidetrack or it melts on the way-and then the cold-wave flag droops in shame.
 OnEEN NNDN nANNE