The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-06-08

Bureau, persons in the affected
areas should be guided thereby in
taking such precautions as are
necessary to protect lives and
property. Unofficial statements,
rumors and gossip should be given
no heed whatever. Receipt of an
official advice that tropical dis
turbance exists is in itself a notice
! OF possible danger and the citizen
Should take upon himself the re-
sponsibility of keeping informed
as to subsequent developments as
announced in the official bulletins.
! 1t is impossible for Weather
Bureau officials to notify each
person and advice him what action
he, individually, should take for
protection in his particular situa-
ton.
Frequency of Advices
Becoming alarmed on the re-
ceipt of preliminary advices. many
persons feel that the Weather
Bureau does not disseminate in
formation often enough and that
the advices are indefinite. Az a
rule, when the storm is located at
a considerable distance from our
coasts, advices are issued at r.
hour intervals. Criticism relating
to the infrequency of advices
usually comes from persons who
confound the progressive move4
ment with the speed of the winds
in the storm.
Development
Most of these storms develop
and first appear at long distances
from any of the coastal stations
of the United States. Others de-
velop at shorter distances, but rare
ly less than two or three hundred
miles away. Many Of them travel
for several days, sometimes as
much as a week, before reaching
the shore line of the United
States; the courses of relatively
large number are confined to
water areas and do not at all af--
feet our coasts. In any case,
warnings and adviees are dis
seminated to the fullest extent
without delay. Advices may be
indefinite if there is lack of OBJ
servations in the vicinity Of an
existing storm, but available in
formation is never withheld.
On the other hand, with ample
observations, it must be recog-i
nized that on the first appearance
of a storm it is impossible to say
exactly where the storm will
strike on the coast or when it will
arrive. Tropical storms progress
rather slowly averaging about IL
miles an hour. Therefore an in
terval of some hours is required
for the disturbance to make suft
ficient progress 80 that It's speed
and direction of movement may
be determined. People cOmmonIg
imagine that IL observations and
reports were made every hour or
lso, when the storm ii at dis
lance, the service rendered would
be much better. This is q mis-
taken idea, While observations
are ordinarily secured at 12-hour
intervals, the Weather Bureau
calls for special observations and
reports at intervening hours when
needed. The great problem hes
not in infrequency of reports but
in inability in some Instances to
secure any reports at all from
the storm area because there are
no reporting ships there.
Avoid Alarm
The Bureau aims to give the
residents of every locality the
fullest possible information need
ed by them in the protection of
their interests, and, on the other
hand, TO avoid needless alarm and
anxiety which would result from
the dissemination of premature
advices and warnings based on in
sufficient information.
Display of Flags and Lanterns
To indicate the approach Of
storm or hurricane winds, the
Weather Bureau displays at many
coastal points flags by day and
lanterns by night as warming.
Description Of these displays and
their meanings are as follows:
The Northeast Storm Warning
"a red pennant above q square
red flag with black center DIS