Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26
Copyright. 1905. by John Elfreth wntkins)

Copyright, 1905, by John Elfreth watkins)
Enter now the flood demon who annually
takes his cue from the first buds of spring.
Our weather bureaus vast machinery is
nicely set to keep tab on this monster, and
its learned officials have their finger on the
key, ready to throb warning of his APP
proach down any of our great rivers.
Along the lower Mississippi, if there are
TO be any spring floods, they should be be-
ginning now, below the mouth of the Ohio;
but those of the upper Mississippi gem
orally commence in the latter part of April,
or in May. The Mississippi river floods are
looked for a little later than those of the
upper Mississippi, while those of the Ohio
river are due anywhere from February to
June. foundations OF our eastern and
southeastern rivers. on the other hand, are
apt TO occur during any season, except the
autumn. The New England floods are
expected always with the spring rains,
which break up the long-standing ice
crusts. The Pacific coast also has its flood
season. The Columbia river will have its
annual rise, setting in about the middle of
May and lasting into June. Its flood pc
Rod is almost as regular as the tides and
falls almost into summer because of the
very late thaw in the mountains above
Earlier the Sacramento is apt to rise. Last
year floods along its banks were unusually
severe, smashing the levees and causing
much damage.
How Floods Are Forecast.
How the government forecasts these
String foundations and thus annually saves
millions of dollars worth of property is an
Interesting story and one seldom told to
the popular reader. We are apt to asso-
ciate only general weather prediction with
our weather bureau-the buletining in the
daily press of probabilities of rain or snow
or clear weather. But this. perhaps. is the
least important function of that great and
growing institution. 1t contributes some
what 20 our comfort, but it rarely saves US
dollars and cents which after all are the
prime Yankee requisites.
The United States is divided now into
forty-four river districts. each in charge of
weather bureau official attached to a
weather bureau station. Assigned to each
of these river guardians is a number of
substations, intrusted with the practical
work of river observation and distribution
OF warnings, forecasts or other information
valuable to jewellers, property owners
farmers, manufacturers, etc, distributed
along the great river banks.
There are about 400 of these substations
which take daily readings of the depth of
the water, the amount of rainfall and the
general state of the weather. These data
they telegraph every morning at s o clock
20 the central river station of their district
a
map from which is made daily forecast
of the flood probabilities for the next two
three or four days.
Queer Cipher Code.
The reports of the substations come into
the central station in a peculiar cipher de-
vised by the weather bureau and used for
economy in telegraph tolls rather than with
any deep-laid design to thwart wire tap
pers.
Nude guy hugging jetty"
Such startling piece OF flood news licked
into central river station does not appear
10 be of any great national consequence
But this Is what ii means when translated
by the central official:
''Twenty-ninth instant. Twelve midnight
Clear weather Wind southeast. Precipi-
tation since last report, 40. River 8 feet
below zero OF gauge and rising"
Darn my humbug. parson."
This, throbbing over the expectant wires
from another substation, means simply
this
Fourth instant, 9 am. Clear weather
Wind south. Precipitation since last re-
port 10 River SIS below zero of gauge
and falling"
And these are bona fide combinations OF
the cipher code in official use
Great rivers, like the Mississippi or Ohio
are divided into number of different dis
tricts, each with its substations The Mis-
sissippi has no less than ten such districts
each with station gathering daily reports
from its subdstricts. The station at Cairo
Ill, is regarded as the key TO the great
stream, for there Is the mouth of the Ohio
and nearby is the mouth of the Missouri.
II Is the station on whose measurements
the forecasts of conditions of the entire
river below are principally based.
The official in charge of each river dis
tr1ct stands prepared to issue flood warn
ings. giving in advance the time of the in
undation and its probable duration. The
range of his forecast depends largely upon
location. Along the great Mississippi dwell
erS near :he upper banks have very little
time to remove their property or them
selves, whereas those near its mouth are
given ample warning. In the upper Mis-
sissippi districts one or two days warn
ing can be given; between Keokuk and st.
Louis, three or four days; from Memphis
10 New Orleans. week to ten days But
in the mountain streams and rapid-running
rivers in the eastern and Pacific states one
or two days warning is all that can be
attempted. Pittsburg is very unfortunate
In this respect, as compared with the lower
Mississippi cities. Especially is this 50
when We consider that 1t is the greatest
coal. iron and steel center in the world.
Eighteen hours is the longest range of
flood forecast that Ii can hope for.
River Gauges.
At all of the substations are river gauges
great measuring rods thrust down to the
streams bottom and extending farther
above the surface than any flood is likely
TO reach. They range from fifteen to 2OO
feet in length. depending upon the slope OF
the bank against which their stone founda-
tons rest There are thirty of these dis
tributed along the Mississippi, and the
point on the scale where the waters sur
face reaches is read, in normal times, daily
at am, as Is the rule along all of the
rivers of the country. In food times they
are read every hour, or even oftener.