The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-01-23
Admiral Peary's Photograph of the North Pole

Not the least important of the sci
entific data that may be gathered are
those In regard to weather conditions,
a knowledge of which would be use
full in the making Of weather fore
casts for the United States.
| Weather Data Are Wanted.
Most Of our weather is not a local
matter at all, but results from dis
turbances that originate perhaps many
| thousands of miles away and drift"
| to us. Thus our weather bill-of-fare
is made up largely of a series of NOV
ing flows" and "highs'-regions of
subnormal and abnormal barometric
pressure made familiar to many read
ers by the roughly circular and clip
teal lines on the daily maps Of the
United States weather bureau. Ac-
companying these disturbances are
winds, hot and cold "spells," and rain
or snow-the chief factors that make
up our weather. Forecasting weather
consists largely in detecting new dis
turbances as they show up on the west
ern and northwestern borders Of the
country, learning their characteristics,
and figuring out the paths that they
probably will follow because Of the
prevailing pressures and temperatures
ahead of them.
The great majority of these lows
seem to originate over the warm sea
south Of the Aleutian islands in the
winter, and over the interior of Alaska
during the summer while the thighs"
are found farther to the east. But
some of the conditions that cause
them to be built up in those places
have their birth farther north in the
Polar regions, and a better knowledge
of temperature, pressure and wind
changes there would undoubtedly facil-
itate weather forecasting.
In the search for the beginnings of
its weather. the United States is not
concerned with the entire Polar re-
gions. 1t is most concerned, it hap
pens, with the unexplored territory
which lies north of Alaska. The out
standing and dominant factor in the
Arctics contribution to the worlds
weather is the draining of its cold |
air southwark. Air is slippery" and
cold air is heavy.
When pyramid of cold air has been |
built up near the North pole, the upper
part slides down the slope and flows
off with a considerable momentum to
the south. This is true all around
the pole. But there are certain chan
nels in which the flow is concentrated
by mountains and land masses. One
channel is down the northern arm of
the Atlantic between Europe and
Greenland, others are up the great
river valleys of Siberia; and still 9TH
ers are through Boring strait, over
Alaska east of the Canadian Rockies
and up the Mackenzie and other val
legs of Canada. 1t is this latter group
of cold-air rivers east of Siberia alone
that directly influences the weather of
the United States.
Daily Radio Reports.
Temperature, pressure and wind con-
really vital weather fac
,ors-are not known in the region
north from Alaska to the pole, and
ire now merely assumed for scientific
purposes largely by inference from OBJ
;ervations taken on the famous Fran
lrift across the Asiatic side of the
Polar regions. Accurate observations
If the seasonal changes of the fac
.ors made on the ground-or rather
ON the ice"-would be of great value
n filing out sciences permanent rec
,rds. Daily reports by radio for a
considerable period from ship drift
ng across this region or from some >. s
'ther sort of base established in its r
leart, would be of incomparably great :
r value practically, for they might
'ften furnish the unknown factor that
would determine next weeks weather d.
n Minneapolis, Chicago and New York.
Besides adding to the worlds knowl-
dge of the factors that bear directly 7
IN weather, study of the unexplored 8
egions of the Arctic would greatly
Expand our knowledge Of ocean cur
ents.