El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-06-09
By
Frederic
J. Haskin

erected on the top OF the Blue Ridge
mountains, in Virginia, and here all
sorts OF Investigation into the why's
and whens of the weather are being
made and all kinds of ingenious and
delicate instruments have been devised
for these studies. One of thes inStru-
ments consists of a woman's hair and a
pen which writes with unfreezable ink.
The oil is extracted from the hair and
in this way it becomes extremely SEN
sitive to all variations Of moisture in
the air. Great care must be taken to
prevent the accumulation of foreign
matter on the hair 1t must be washed
once a week with clean water applied
with a camels hair brush. and many
other precautions taken to assure its
accuracy. Many automatic recording
instruments are used by the weather
bureau in its meteorological investi-
cations. One of these is a rain-gage.
1t consists Of receiver and little
bucket with two compartments in it.
mounted on trunions in such a way
that one of these compartments is al
ways under the receiver When a com
partment becomes full it tips over and
empties its contents into a tank. and
In the act Of tipping brings the other
compartment into position to be filled
When the bucket tips it forms a closed
electric circuit with a recording pen
attached and the number of bucketfuls
discharged is thus automatically writ
ten down
The Sunshine Recorder.
Another instrument useh by the gov
eminent is the sunshine recorder. This
consists of a straight. glass tube with
bulbs at each end These bulbs are
Iliied with dry air, the chambers being
separated by small quantity of rner-
curry and alcohol Platinum wires are
inserted in the middle section OF the
tube. The lower bulb is bIackened
with lampblack and is always turned
toward the south. 1t is so mounted
that when ever the sun shines it will
start the recording pen to writing and
as soon as the sun ceases to shine. the
pen ceases 20 write A chart is placed
upon revolving roller operated by
clockwork. By this means the weather
bureau is securing a written descrip-
ton Of the amount of sunshine and
shadow.
The barometers used by the weather
bureau also make a continuous written
record Of the atmospheric pressure
throughout the entire year The bu-
reau likewise possesses instruments
for accurately measuring and recording
the velocity and direction OF the wind
1t has self registering thermometers
which are sent up into the air. with
other instruments in free balloons or
captive kites. With these It has been
able to larn some new and surprising
things about the weather. Some. OF
the kites frequently attain an altitude
Of nearly three miles. although the
average is about two miles.
Many Theories Upset.
The Investigations made with the
kites and balloons have discovered con-
ditions which have upset many accept
ed theories 1t used to be believed
altitude but this rule has many ex-
ceptions, az great layer OF warm air
being frequently To- nd floating upon
layer of cold air. It also has been
found that the wind may be blowing
from the east at the ground. from the
southeast a half mile above the ground
and from the south a mile up. Cloud
movements indicate that the wind di-
rection changes 20 the right with iu-
creasing altitude but kite and balloon
observations show that it frequently
turns to the left. Changes in temper
allure occur simultaneously at the sur
face of the earth and one and two |
miles above thus contradicting the !
formerly accepted theory that high |
temperatures started from the higher
portions of the atmosphere and grad 7
ually work down to the surface Of the I
earth. All this information is Of much 1
service to the weather bureau in max /
ing its forecasts. Sometimes storm /
passes eastward without being fol-
lowed by expected clear weather, be- I
cause a second storm was developing /
off the middle or south Atlantic coast /
This new development is not lndi-
Gated by surface observation. but the /
Mount Weather flights show the ap- /
proach OF the storm in the higher re-
gions OF the atmosphere before ii ar
riyes in the lower regions. 1t seems
that the majority Of storm conditions
may be forecast by the Strengthening
in the weather bureau
kites and balloons at least 2i hours
before there is any appreciate indica-
tions of these conditions Of the earth