The Morgan City daily review., 1919-06-03
WINDS CLOSELY OBSERVED
Reports Received From Stations and
Naval Vessels on North Atlantic Are
charted and Summarized by Maj.
e. n. Bowie.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

| ture. There is cooperation between
and the United States navy and tn
meteorological services of Canada an,
Great Britain in an effort to do what ii
possible to make safe the flights owe
the Atlantic.
In a comprehensive bulletin which
has just been issued by the weather bu
reau the story Of what is being done i!
told Interestingly and, to a considera
bio extent, graphically.
Charles F. Marvin, chief of the bu
reau, in making his statement starts
with the familiar but necessary wort
that wind is the one element Of para
mount importance to successful
Transatlantic flight. In the bulletin OF
this matter the writer goes back frs
to the days Of Columbus, saying tha,
when Columbus and his three caravel,
sailed westward on the first transat
lanie voyage the great discovere,
found that by keeping to the south
ward he was favored. by winds tha,
bore him away from the old world and
oo"aro the inoies.
WinAs hdp sn Northern Resea.
Then concerning the present and fu
eure efforts to cross the Atlantic In air
planes from West to East the weathea
bureau scienttsts say:
"Now that the Columbuses Of tha
United States navy are preparing to
cross the Atlantic in, the first Journey
by airplane,-ln three big airplanes-
they 6nd' that the winds that waited
Columbus ere still blowing westward
making 1t fmpEacticable In the present
stage Of aircraft development to follow
the southerly route from America e
Europe, even II the great distance wers
not prohibitive.
'.But they. ind that farther north IN
the latitude of Newfoundland and Ice.
land, the prevailing direction Of the
wind is from west to east, and that
under good wind conditions they may
cut three hours OF more from the time
that would be required to travel from
Newfoundland to Ireland at airplane
speed in still air. The same thing ap-
plies in an airplane journey from Por.
tugal by way Of the Azores"
As q part of its work the weather
bureau is using its daily reports from
all stations in the continental United
States forgive Indications Of the most
favorable day for long flights to begin.
It Is possible, OF course. that by the
time this is printed the first fight may
have been started or made, but 1t Is the
intention Of the weather bureau pre-.
sumably to continue its work in behalf
Of the aviators during the days to
come. provided Transatlantic flights are
found to be practicable and that such
means Of travel are to become an e.
tablished part of the commerce and the
passenger service Of the world.
Reports From Observing Stations.
It has been arranged by the weather
bureau to receive wireless and cable
reports from observing stations on the
west coast of Europe from Spitzber-
gen and Iceland in the North to the
Azores in the South and other reports
are to come by wireless from naval
vessels, ranging in class from battle
ships to submarine chasers, posted on
the bosom of the Atlantic. All of these
reports are to be turned over to Maj.
E H. Bowie who was on duty as fore
caster for the American expeditionary
forces in France during the war. He
will chart, compare and summarize
them. -
After this Major Bowie's forecasts
and advices concerning weather condi-
tons will be transmitted to Willis r.
Gregg, a bureau meteorologist who has
studied the relations Of weather condi-
tions to Transatlantic airplane flights
and who is now In Newfoundland.
The weather bureau says that so far
as storms 60 the naval aviators have
little to fear. Then it adds:
when North America and the At
lantic are clear Of great atmospheric
OlSSuxU0uCCS, IL 40 uAAuOcI cOAC InoS az
airplane could travel over the whole
breadth Of the ocean, from west to
east, without encountering storm.
The reason for that is the eastward
drift Of the atmosphere, credited some
times to the revolution Of the earth and
regarded as responsible for the invaria-
BILE tendency Of storms In northern lati-
tudes to travel from west to east
There seems to be a belief among
In Washington that
there Is little choice between seasons
for transatlantic flights. While the
westerly winds are stronger
in winter than Ia summer yet. on the
other hand, the storm conditions are
more prevalent In winter, and the net
result is about IN equal percentage "f
favorable days In the two seasons
Moreover. Il 10 said that the greater
fog percentage in summer offsets the
greater percentage Of cloudiness n
winter.