The Washington times., 1922-08-14
Millions Saved.

uOlidTn WOTIn Ot property lb bdNeu
every year by storm. flood, cold wave
and frost warnings.
Millions Saved.
The amount cannot be calcu-
lated" said Major Bowie. I'VE
know. and those whose property IL
regularly protected by the warnings
Of the Weather Bureau know. that
II 10 very great"
The chief forecaster referred to
George s. Bliss, meteorologist Of the
Weather Bureau, for a description
Of weather forecasting. Mr.. Bliss
said:
Many changes occur In the high
and low barometric pressure areas
during their progress across the
country. The precipitation areas In.
crease or decrease In size, change
their form and shift their loca-
ton within the disturbed areas.
The temperature abnormalities may
change in intensity and the winds
increase or decrease in velocity.
To understand this we must re-
member that high and low pressure
areas are only formations through
which the atmosphere circulates, and
that they do not carry a given guam
tity of air with them across the
continent. The changes In condi.
tons are chiefly due tssthe tempera-
ture and the moisture content OF the
air which circulates through them.
For example, when a low pres
sure area is central over Idaho IL
Ia easy to understand that the pre-
cipitation within IL will ordinarily
be light, because the air which flows
into IL from all sides comes from com.
paratively dry regions. The air cur.
rents from the Pacific arise rapidly
as they flow inland and, cooling by
expansion, are deprived Of q large
portion Of their moisture on the
western side OF the Cascade range
Of mountains.
Weather forecasting consists In
watching the storm movement end
developments by means of the wealth.
er maps. In anticipating the changes
that will take place in them, in es.
timating the expanse of territory
that will be covered and the time
that given points will be reached,
and thereby determining the weather
and temperature conditions that may
reasonably be expected in each 10.
cality during the ensuing thirty-siX
to forty-eight hours
Telegraph Used.
Major Bowie said that only teleg.
raphy has made possible the broad
and accurate work OF the bureau.
Local conditions are telegraphed or
photographed twice a day from all
parts Of the country and their prob.
able result Is calculated at Wash.
ington.
And radio" he said, has revolu.
tionized some kinds Of forecasting.
notably Of hurricanes. BY radio we
can get a report from ship hun.
dreds Of miles out at sea Of a storm
moving landward and send out our
warnings accordingly.
But forecasting can never be
made absolutely accurate. Local
conditions change too quickly. We
can hope for greater accuracy than
we now achieve. but hardly much
more.
I'VE expect valuable data from
Captain Amundsens meteorological
observations in the north polar re-
gion. II we can learn in advance
what kind Of wind is moving
toward us from the North Pole at a
given time we can calculate it's effect
on our territory. Calculations Of
solar radiation give us help.
"A new development in weather
forecasting Is the recently evolved
system Of charting the upper air.
which gives us more data to work
on. Small hydrogen balloons are
sent up as high as twenty-five miles.
AT various heights they burst. re-
leasing the instrument, which drops
by parachute"
The Weather Bureau does its work
st a cost OF about $4,000. 900 a year
and is trying to get a special appro-
priation for Its new work of inform.
ing aviators Of flying conditions.
CNNMCr