Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-12
Aids in Conquest of Air

street in Washington they do it in IS
minutes
With .unerring quickneSs the forecast
ers untangle the skcins Of the air The
net Of waving lines. the hundreds of mi
mute notations on the half dozen air
level maps before them fall into mean
ing They become plastic diagrams of
motion instead of cmbalmings Of one
particular moment in the endless see
mario Of the skies The wandering lows
and highs the shifting winds point
their fingers at their future paths like
so many Signboards
But they do not do SO without coax
ing, Even when all the material is in
the full reports from the earth'S sur
face and the more meager news from
the higher levels-there are many ques-
tons to be asked. Is the air current In
this place ascending or descending
What is the conformation OF the land
below? Are there mountains 70 bring
on precipitation? From what direction
Is this high-preSSure area coming? Is
II Canadian high. a Southern high or
an oceanic high from the Pacific Coast2
For each kind has its own peculiarities.
How does this particular season OF the
year usually affect this particular phe-
nomenon? How are one thousand and
one other conflicting and interrelated
causes of heat and pressure and wind
direction going TO react on each other
this particular time?
Penetrate Vagsries.
And here is where the artist must go
hand in hand with the scientlst-the
technique with the knowledge. The fact
that a storm brings rain in one place
docs MOI mean 1t will bring rain In the
next, and not until We have complete
diagrams for miles of air above us
and perhaps not even then-can We
prophesy its action with absolute accu-
racy But the technicianS at the bureau
can see through It's vagaries SIS per cent
of the time.
II you think of their years of train
ing. Of their many more years Of close
daily observation of the air. YOU Will
begin To see why, But YOU will see WHY
best OF all If you so down unannounced
some afternoon when the actual fore
cast work is done for the day and find
them immersed. submerged and barri-
caded behind mounds OF weather maps
and statistics for the last is wears,
studying. comparing trends. drawing
conclusions. capturing always little
more OF the vagarieS Of their mistress
the sky
So carefully are The forecasts sent out
That when Arlington starts its Soueaky
whine the bureau listens in To check It.
They are learning all the time, these
meteorologiStS to polySyllablige plain
MIR Weather NAM. as year after year
OF minute statistical data from an en-
tire continent is noted down and filed
away In those voiumiuOuS reports down
on NJ street Not only filed away. but
taken out and studied
storms Cannot Re Made
Every week. and nearly every day,
some one writes In ~ the weather man
his idea for a new and sure fire method
Of eliminating thunderStormS Every
week some one writes IN To ask II IL isn't
the radio that is making il SO cold and
rainy or so hot and sunny. Both lines
OF thought are the weather man SAYS,
absurd as they are iallaciouS, The time
has not yet come when man can make
or stop storm. The smoke Of man
made cities may choke the cities them
selves, but 1t will leave untouched the
vast reaches Of air whence come the
storms above IT,
AS for the radio, no trained observer
Of the weather has been able 70 detect
the slightest change in either humidity
or temperature since man began 10 use
those invisible waves. II has rainesl
since radio began as much AS II rained
at intervals for years before. Taxing il
by and large. II is still the same old
weather.
out Of an intimate acquaintance
with It's habits, by sort Of sixth sense.
these watChdogs OF the air. from their
post al their high-deSk tables ON M
street In Washington In the old brick
h0uAe OF the rocco spanish gentleman,
o1}k their warnings which, needed, save
The lives Of the aviator and the planter
unheeded, bring upon their wards OF
the earth the tragedy OF death and loss.