Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-04
MR.. WEATHER MAN.
How He Knows When 1t Is Going to
Storm or Clear.

Evening rcd and morning gray,
sets the traveller on his way.
Evening gray and morning rcd
Hrin@s down rain upon his head
such WIS the way in which our grand
parents forctod the weather.
If II was noticed that tho old tabhv wash
ed herself by rubbing her paw over her car
or mat the little tree-toads trillcd their
ih"urhIu! llttlc songs or the firefiics fitted
low among tho flowers and the vines the
old folks shook their heads and spoke of
ram or If grandmothcr's feet ached tho
''tt'' i'lkN grew very sorry-not because
grandmother had pain. hut because it
meant had weather on the morrow.
Strictly speaking our weather bureau is
made mp of a great many buildings scat
tered all over the United States. and the
an" AT Washington is tho central station
mat governs and directs tho smaller ones
and to which they send in their daily re-
ports; for it is by getting reports from all
me dlncrent sections of the country that
nclo Sans wcathcr-makers are able TO
mako their predictions. There are 1N towns
ana cities in the United States where there
are observation stations, having the same
Instruments and apparatus as the WASH
lhSton bureau. Now, the observers at
these $50 stations do not spend their time
waiting for spiders to crawl out Of their
holes or looking at the sky to sec whether
II Is red or gray in the evening They look
at their thermometers, barometerS ann-
mometers. and so on. which are far bet
ter guides than all the other signs nut to-
gether.
At eight o'clock I'm the morning and at
eight O'Clock in tho evening of every dav
the observer at each one of these weather
stations from Maine to California looks at
ms different instruments and carefully
notes what each of them marks Then he
taxes look at the sky. to see whether it
rs ialr or raining or showing and TO see
what sort Of clouds may he sailing about.
According to the weather bureau there al,
seven different kinds Of clouds and it is i'm
portant that the observer should see what
particular kind is lowering around. Tor
'ach Kind means some special sort Of
weather or some particular state OF the at
mosphcre When he has finished his OBJ
servation and noted all the Indications he
telegrdphs his report to Washington.
In that way. then, the Washington sta
ton receives an account of the weather
At all parts Of the country at the same
lme and as you may easily believe it
keeps the four telegraph operators busy
receiving the messages that como pouring
in soon 2fter eight o'clock As each mos
sage is received in the telegraph room it
is carried ~ messenger across the hall
To IN" foreCast-rOom. or room where pre-
dictions 2lc made, and handed to tho
translator AS tho translator reads aloud
the cipher reports from the different sta
tiorS. other men in the room mark what
he reads upon map of the United States
so that when the last message has nccn
translated the map shows lust what the
weather Is at each one of the 1870 stations
The map is then turned over 20 the official
who is to make the predictions. IL order
to got his bearings, he traces across tho
map the different places throughout the
country whore the temperature is the same
al fttl to