The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-07-06
A|RPLANES A D.
IN WEATHER
FORECASTS.
Experiments at Anacostia
Naval Station Promise
Great Results

The airplane soon viii be called
upon to play vital part In the
preparation of daily weather fore
casts, IL the plans Of meteorologists
meet with success, 1t was indicated
today by officials of the Department
Of Agriculture. which controls the
Weather Bureau.
In daily experimental flights now
being made by naval aviators at
the Anacostia. Naval Air Station
the usefulness of high altitude OBJ
eervations In making weather fore
casts is being brilliantly demon.
etrated.
Not only will more accurate fore
casts be possible under the new
system, 1t Is stated. but forecasts
may be made for longer periods
ahead. While the air readings take
Z little longer to make, the delay
is more than offset by the results
obtained, the experiments show.
For more than a month navy
f1iers at Anacostia have made
daily flights. except on Sunday,
carrying automatic recording equip.
ment to q height of at least 10000
feet. The automatic recorder
makes continuous graph showing
temperature, air pressure and
humidity at the various attitudes.
Forecast Thunderstorms.
The flights are being made
through cooperation Of Lieutenant
F. w. Reichelderfer, aerologist Of
the bureau of aeronautics, and
Doctor Charles L. Mitchell, fore
caster at the Weather Bureau. The
flight is made at ia. M. daily,
and requires approximately one
hour.
Though the service is but little
more than a month old, Il has al.
ready demonstrated the possibility
OF forecasting thundershowers, now
one Of the most difficult problems
for the forecaster, 1t Is stated.
High humidity, with q decrease in
temperature and low air pressure
above the earth's surface presages
q thundershower, the observations
show. These readings cannot be
made from the earth.
A sudden drop In temperature
above the earth's surface is an In
dication OF rain. The greater the
temperature decrease, the heavier
the rainfall. with a given humidity.
The Weather Bureau has FIR
some time been issuing daily avia.
ton forecasts for the benefit Of
cross country filters. This rervice,
1t is thought, can be materially
improved by the use OF aerial OBJ.
servations.
Distribution Is Thorough.
The bureau now Is sending fore
casts by telegraph to 1000 stations
throughout the country. for redis.
tribution by telegraph, teIejhone.
radio and mail. Forecasts are mail.
ed to $4,000 subscribers daily. They
are available to $500, 900 subscrib-
ers by telephone within one hour
after the forecasts are made.
The forecasts are based IInon
readings taken at s a. m. and 8
p. M, Washington time, daily at
the 1000 weather stations through.
out the nation. These readings, In
code for brevity, are sent to Wash
ington by telegraph. So expert are
the operators at the bureau that
they translate the code messages 81
they come in over the wire and type
them Of in full, as they are re.
ceived. From these reports the
daily weather maps are made, from
which forecasts are taken.
So rapidly Is the work done that,
although the readings In stations on
the Pacific coast are not taken until
o'clock, the complete forecast is
available there less than two hours
LATER