Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1914-02-13
HOW THE WEATHER BUR.
EAU FORECASTS STORMS,
FROSTS AND FLOODS

Their Bureau in forecast ~ the
coming Of storms, frosts and floods,
Not a few think that the observers
must necessarily get their data
! by reading the planets, the stars
; and the moon. As Il matter Of fact,
the forecaster of the bureau fore
., tells the coming of disturbance in
a business'ike way, YER similar to
, that in which Il man who has order
ed a shipment Of goods would osti-
mate the date Of its arrival.
Suppose a business mar had or
dcred n carload Of pincapples from
the Hawaiian Islands. He would
know the average time it would
take the steamer to make the trip
10 the Pacific port, the average
time for unloading and loading in.
to refrigerator cars and the aver
age number of days TO be allowed
these cars for their trip across the
continent to New York. His csti-
mate, however would be subject to
error, because the steamship might
be delayed or the cars might meet
with an accident.
Storms, like pineupples. asa rule
do not originate in the United
States. They come to US, some
from the PHILIPPINES, Japan, Siberia,
Alaska, Canada, the Gulf of Mexico.
The Weather bureau gets cable,
Geographic )r wireless notice of n
foreign storm. Station after sta
ton, or vessel after. vessel report
the storms arrival in its neighbor-
hood, so that the general direction
and rate of progress can. be deter
mined very early. In fact the ar
rival of some storms can be fore.
told 10 days in advance.
The f~orecasters watch for tho
region of low barometer which is
the storm center around which the
winds blow. This whirl or eddy
moves bodily forward with the gen,
eral eastward drift about G5 mile:
a day in our ATTITUDES. The fore,
caster determines the direction OF
movement of the storm and it!
velocity.
When weather disturbances arr
reported, the fo]recasters krov
from experience about how long i
takes them to reach our Pacifi,
coast, and then how long aftcrwart
f, they will reach the Atlantic coast
For example, if a storm coming
: from Siberia drifts eastward arounC
: the North Pole and reappcars il
. Alaska, it should appear in Wash
ington and Oregon in about twt
days; should get to the Grea
Lakes in six days and to the Allan
tic coast in seven or eight days.
Unexpected conditions may dc
lay storms or divert them from
y the straight track, just as q refrig
orator n may be thrown off it
. schedule or tc shipped by acct
dent on a wrong road. Some o
( these storms deplcte themselves b.
f: running into regions of high bare
meter which are of greater magnt
tude and extent than the storr
itself. Some OF them however tray
f cl completely around the world.
Isl To keep tab on cold waves tha
1 come into the United States fror
Canada and Alaska, the Wcathc
3 Bureau studies the Canadian Wcf
= thcr reports. England sends RI
ports from Iceland, the British i
e lands, and Continental Europe, an
in daily reports como flom st. Peters
ID burg on the conditions in Russi
h and Siberia.
81 The same busincss.like systCi
" used in tracing the track of n storr
t., Is applied in determining the ARR,
Of al Of frosts.
10 Flood forecasts arc made I
st much the same way. Informatio
III as to the amount Of rainfall at t.
nc head waters Of streams that caus
g. floods arc covered by telegraph
Of reports sent in by local Observer,
lie AS this rain reaches the main chan
i. mel, he height of the water in III,
at channel IS determined by the sue
y. c~essivc guaging stations. Past re