Potosi journal., 1914-01-28
How The Weather Bureau
Forecasts Storms, Frosss
and Floods.

something mysterious and occUi
: a bout The work o. the Neathe
Bureau in fCrecasting the com
ling Of storms. froStS and Hoods
No; a few think that the o11.sery
er> must necessarily -et thei
data by reading the p::"1,t<. tn,
stars and the moon. Asa mat
jy! Of fact Tic. IOiv'cI~tp" If t;is
| BurH"l fornrr}i,< H." coming O
| Idlsturbancu> in Il basin, >jiIls
| way. very similar to th&t in u!lci
"a man Wl:o has ordered : shin
inent of goods would estimate
| jNe date OF It's arrival.
Suppose q business man haG
ere. ...' Il I';irloal OF pin"anpIes
from the Hawaiian Islands. lle
| would know tie average :;mo il
would take the Stt,.:.- s'!' il make
the trip to the Paci:. ,a.t. the
Iav1raGo time for UnlOaIlng and
| loading into refrigerator cars.
and the average Mumbe o. DAYS
to b" allowed these cars for their
tri p across the continent to New
York. His estimate. however.
| would be biect to error because
the steamship might be delayed
by fog Cor the cars might meet
with an accident.
Storms. like pineapples, as a
ru e do not ori ginate in the Uni
tied States. They come to us,
some from the Philippines. ia,
pan, Siberia. Alaska. Canada or
the Calf Of Mexico. The Wealth
er Bureau gets cable, tele9raphic
or wireless notice Of a forciwn
storm. Station afte" station, or
vessel after vessel reports the
storm $ arrival in its neighbor-
hood, so that the general dircc-
ton and rate Of progress can be
determined very ear ~ In fact.
the arrival Of some storms can
be toretold ten days in advance.
The forecas,crS watch for the
region of low barometer which
Is the storm center around which
the winds blow. This Whirl or
eddy moves bodily forward with
the general eastward drift Of
about go miles a day in our lati-
tudeS. As the lines of equal
pressure tiSoharS) around the
low center crowd closer togcth.
cr. the winds attending the
storm increase in force. The
fOrecaSter determines the dirCc-
ton Of movement of the storm
and its velocity.
When weather Disturbances
are reported, the foreca>terS
know from experience about how
long it tn EcS them to reach orn.
Pacific Coast. and then low Ion"
after they will reach the Atlantic
cost. For example. if a storm
coming from Siberia drifts east.
ward around the North Pole and
reappears in Alaska. if should
in Washington and Ore
gon in about two days: should
get to the Great Lakes in six
days and to the Atlantic Coast
in seven or eight days.
Unexpected conditions may dc
lay storms or divert them from
the straight track just as d re-
frigcratOr car may be thrown
off its schedule or he shipped by
accident on Il wrong foad Some
of these storms depIete them
selves by running into regions Of
high barometer which are Of
greater magnitude and extent
than the storm itself. Some of
them. however. travel complete
IL around the world.
To keep tab on cold waves that
come into the United States
from Canada and Alaska. the
Weather Bureau studies the
Canadian Weather reports.
England sends reports from Ice
land. the British. Islands and
Continental Europe. and daily ro-
ports come from st. Petersburg
on the conditions in Russia and
Siberia
The same buslnesSlike system
used in tracing the track Of q
storm is applied in determining
the arrival Of frostS.
Flood forecasts are made in
much tho Same ua,- Jpf,,.,,,,