Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-09-14
UNCLE SAA As
WEATHER PROPHET
HOW THE WEATHER BUREAU
OFFICIALS MAKE THEIR
FORECASTS.
SEEK MORE KNOWLEDGE
OF UPPER AIR CONDITIONS
Heretofore Have Based Predictions on
Surface Observations - AeropIanes
May Make System More Perfect
Other Nations Cooperate With the
United States in Work,
Especial correspondence.) ]


Washington. Sept. l4-Weathe, bur-
eau officials are looking forward i'm
patiently to the completion of all the
buildings at the observation station at
Mt Weather. Va The last of the build
ings will be completed this fall and the
damage done by the big fire about two
years ago entirely repaired. With the
station completed and fully equipped.
i. is expected that observations and ex-
periments of great value in the fore
casting of weather conditions will be
made.
The great work which DR.. Willis
Moore and his aides are trying to do
at Mt Weather is to perfect their
knowledge of upper air conditions. I'm
I'll comparatively recently, weather
forecasts were based entirely on knowl-
edge OF conditions at the surface of the
earth. NOW, the weather bureau draws
not only upon the widest possible in
FORMATION obtatnable a the earth's sur
lace but upon such facts as TO
meteorological conditions in the upper
ar, miles above the earth. as are OBJ
talnabie 1t Is now possible to send
Kites or aeroplanes four or five miles
above the surface of the earth and OBJ
tain readings of the conditions and
these are of great value In making
weather predictions. most importanr
phase of the work at Mt Weather re-
lates to the mea surement of the exact
amount of absorption of the heat of the
suns rays by the atmosphere Ohser-
vations along this line taken in con-
nectlon with the work which is being
done by Professor Abbot of the Smith
sonlan Institute in measuring the var
iatlons IN the amount of heat furnish
ed by the sums rays. constitute valua-
BILE additions to the sum of informa-
ton necessary to the perfection of the
, weather forecast system of the United
. ! States.
Forecastng at Long Range.
That the weather bureau is working
gradually in the direction of more and
more long range forecasting is the as
sertlon of the officials of the service
Necessarily the progress is slow. And
while some startling statements have
been put forward as to the length of
time forecasts could be made ahead.
the object to which the weather bureau
is directing its attention more than any
thing else is the perfection of the sys-
tenn of making forecasts from day to
day and for several days ahead Gem
orally speaking, the short range fore
casts are deemed likely always to be
of more practical value than the one
reaching many days ahead might be If
. 1t became possible to attain it.
1t is not generally realized that the
weather bureau already does great
deal OF forecasting for four or five DAYS
ahead. This is made possible by rea-
son of the fact the United States
weather bureau has every day at It's
command a knowledge of the meteoro-
logical conditions all over the inhabited
part Of the northern hemisphere which
is in touch with civilization. About
two years ago. the plan was adopted of
working in cooperation with other
governments to obtain daily reports on
meteorological conditions from stations
scattered over most of the landed area
! of the world north of the equator This
plan has worked we'll and has greatly
strengthened the weather service.
a Reports Received Daily.
BY 10 o'clock every day. reports have
reached the weather bureau here
which. as soon as plated. enable the
weather officials to locate the exact
E position of the storms and cool waves
existent at that time over practically
4 the entire northern hemisphere. bar
q ring, of course, much of the region
/ above the Arctic circle and large parts
G of the ocean areas, tho by no means all
of them. The sequence from clear
6 weather to storm around the globe can
be perceived. Often. as many as a half
dozen big storms. with stretches OF
clear between. are rotating in the
northern half of the earth In other
, words the weather bureau has a daily
portrayal of world wide weather con-
ditions and, knowing these forecasting
. is greatly assisted
When the weather bureau reaches
out four or five days and makes a fore
cast it is an indication that over the
Pacific and over part of the orient
there exists some positive condition
which, extending to a vast area and
being certain 10 continue for taiaasy;
u u makes it possible for the weather seers
. to peer for considerable time into the
future. In the absence of such a con-
: dition over great area the long range
q forecast now is not tried and Is prac-
l. tically useless, with the present stock
q of weather science.
All Interested in the Weather.
While the United States obtains Its
worldwide data with the cooperation
: Of other governments. it is at the ex-
: pense of this government No other
n government can begin to compare with
u the United States in efficiency OF
weather service. 1t is a strange fac,
that when the barometer and thermo-
meter. the two instruments of most use
e in weather forecasting. were invented
: America was almost an unknown con-
S tinent. 1t was in 1645 that the baro-
o meter was invented by Torricelli and
about the same time that the thermo-
meter was first brought into use, the
invention of Calico These two savants
: could never have dreamed that their
: greatest field of usefulness would be
: found in foreteling meteorological con-
u ditions in continent which was then
barely known to Europe except by