New Britain herald., 1916-03-27
WEATHER MAN HAS
 KICK ID REGISTER
Objects to System for Making
 Long Distance Forecasts

Wae hington, D. C.. March 27.-The chief of the United States Weather bureau stated today that in the opin- ion of the bureau of new system oi long-range forecasting, which has been widely discussed recently, was quite fallacious. The new system is said to be based on the spOttedness of the sun and rifts and shafts of solar radiation. In the opinion ol the Weather bureau it belongs ia the same class with other methods of long-range weather forecastinG based on lunar, planetary, magnetic, and astrological considerations. None of these systems, it is said, has any scientific value.
 During the past CIV years the i weather bureau has received full | specifications concerning all the es- sential details of this particular sys- | tenn. The alleged discovery is, there l fore fully known to the weather i bureau and has been carefully studied and examined by it's scientific staff | Moreover, other scientists of inter national reputation now connected with the strongest institutions of the' world engaged in astronomical re- search, and conducting investigations into solar and terrestrial physics
 have also passed upon these new
 theories These authorities are in
 accord that the deductions and conL. clusions drawn from the solar con-
 ditions on which the new system is
 based are unwarranted.
 Sun Spots Base of New System.
 When the disk of the sun is min
 uteIy examined with powerful tele-
 scopes, or when it is photographed
 with the aid of the modern spectro-
 heliograph, the surface presents
 characteristic spotted appearance
 which undergoes slight changes from
 day to day, and greater changes with
 longer intervals of time, depending fupon the well-known rotation of the
 sun upon it's axis and the periodic
 recurrence of the sunspot maxirna
 and minima. These and certain we'll.
 known related phenomena are now
 put forward as the basis of new
 science which will make possible
 forecasts of the weather far in ad-
 vance. That these features of solar
 activity, however, actually should s control and determine the dailE' | | changes and sequence of weather } conditions in any definite or direct !. and consequential manner, is regard f ] ed by government scientists as quite impossible Solar phenomena of the l kind described do not have any df. l rect influence upon the weather ai
 any particular time and place, and - cannot be made the basis of ny
 forecasts whatsoever.
 The alleged discovery is regarded
 as only one of a number of simt- < lar schemes which are continually being put forward. In some cases
 the advocates of these schemes aS-
 sert that they can forecast the F weather for weeks or months in ad'
 vance, and in others they state that
 they have found means of producing
 rain artificially, of preventing hail.
 and in other ways of interfering with f and controlling atmospheric phen-
 omena. These pretensions meet with
 a certain credence because there are s a number of people who still cling e to the ancient belief in the influence !, of the moon on the growth and de- o veIopment of crops, and to the Idea 0 that the weather conditions de sr$ld i upon planetary and astrological corn ? binations. In consequence the weather bureau has been called upon from , time to time to caution the general 4 public against putting faith in these so-called discoveries.
 The United States weather bureau | itself is the authorized agency of r the government to collect meteorolo- !, gica1 observations and make and is- sue weather forecasts and warnings l Every important nation of the world has a similar organization and all use essentially the same methods. >ISl , | of these organizations condemn and disproVe the methods and theories of those who assert that they are able to predict the weather for any con-
 siderable period in advance