Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-14
SecretiUe Weather Sharps Foil "Uncie HI
MOORE SHES AT Will SON

Wills L. Moore, chief of the national
weather bureau. stepped from the
Washington train early today. cooked
a critical eye at the blue sky and greet
ed the reception committee.
"Ah. very nice, very nice indeed" he
remarked Perhaps trace of humid
ity but very fair proportion of ozone.
OF course. that smoke-but smokes not
under my department"
/ Then. satisfied with the weather fur
nished for his reception by c. f. Won
Hermann. Atlanta forecaster. he was
driven to the Georgian Terrace for
teen weather bureau officials who
came from Utah and Florida and Colo
RADIO and other states to discuss ways
and means of helping the farmer tell
when to get in his hay or dig a cyclone
cellar The officials have been holding
an informal conference for several
| days and Professor Moore came down
to greet them and offer congratulations
on their making 80 per cent success
| in representations for the past year
Uncle Hi Disappointed
Just inside the corridor of the Ter
| race stood Uncle Hi Suggs. who lives
| out Battle Hill way and is the best and
most voluminous weather Prophet in
Georgia, barring the saIared ones who
work by telegraph and barometer. Uri-
Gle Hi has an apparatus of his own,
and scorns the scientific devices of the
official bureau. But he had come all the
way from Battle Hill successfully ne
gotiated the storm doors without loss
of his whiskers, and was prepared to
| join the council of forecasters. He was
disappointed to learn that the sessions
were executive and he couldn't get in
They needn't think they've got any
patent on prophesyin' the weather" he
remarked scornfully I'm willin' to
back my predictions agin the best they
can do any time. Didn't | write a let
ter TO the papers last spring sayin' it
would be the rainiest summer on rec
ord, and didn't the rain fall and the
storms rage until everything in Georgia
got widowed with the wet?
No. don't depend on no thermome-
ters. All they can tell you is how hot
or how cold it is right now, and what's
the use Of KNOWN that? I've got a
frost-b heel l caught with Gen'l Cor
don in ga and every time it COM
mences to swell up and blister, know
we're in for cold, and maybe snow I've
got a goosebone that gives a certain
sign of rain and whenever that fails
me my rheumatism is certain to hist a
warnin ! seen a squirrel this mawnin
layin' up nuts in a hollow tree and a
whole passel of birds flynn South, and
both of them's unfailin' signs of hard
winter I'm goin' to stop by town and
lay me in couple of tons of coal this
very day"
May Predict Year Ahead.
Professor Moore declined to be drawn
into guessing match with Uncle Mar
Gus. though he cast no aspersions on
the amateur forecaster's prognostica-
tons
Really, l wouldn't venture to say
whether the winter will be mild or
cold" he said. I'VE have developed the
science until we can send out forecasts
for a week ahead with excellent sue
cess. but that is as far as we attempt to
go now. I believe the time will come
when we can predict for month ahead
with accuracy. And while it is possi-
BILE that we may reach the point where
4 we can predict for the coming summer
or winter. would not venture to assert
that this is probable
The forecasts of the weather bureau
have been correct nine times out of ten
in the past year The department has
only recently been brought up to that
efficiency. While there are kicks from
disgruntled persons who say the bu-
reau is always wrong and ought to be
abolished, these do not come from those
whose lives and property depend on
our forecasts. These have learned how
, accurate the department really is, and
being guesswork."
Would you be willing to predict the
weather for Woodrow Wilson's inau-
guration?" he was asked timidly.
Professor Moore looked panied. Per-
haps he remembered the spring of four
years ago when the forecast was fair
and several regiments of troops and
thousands of others were snowbound on
their way to Washington and nearly
turned away.
The 4th of March is an uncertain