Evening star., 1936-10-04
WEATHER BALLOON
SERVICE EXPANDS
Data on Mass Air Move.
.ment to Be Secured Read
lily at Many More Stations.

lly at Many More STATIONS.
New methods In sky observations
By uhich the Weather Bureau Is
Improving its serpice to land-oound
citizens as well as apiators are de-
scribed here BY peteran netps-
paper man Uho Is an authority on
dofdtion. He ,pas n,Dorded the 1885
Pulitzer Prize for distinguished re-
porting, based on his exclusive story
IN the New York Times on the de-
pdrture of the Ltndberghs tor
"ertle" In England.
BY LAUREN d. LYMAN.
NEW YORK, October 3 N.A.
NA).-An interesting and little
known chapter in American aviation
IS fast drawing to . close. Within
the next two years weather flights by
airplanes will, wherever possible, be
replaced by free balloons which will
carry aloft only set Of instruments
sending out automatic radio signals.
Thus, although it is a comparatively
new service that the airplane has been
giving to the United States Weather
Bureau, it is already being replaced
by q much older sky traveller.
i For seven years now. in widely sep
erated parts of the United States,
hardy pilots have been starting at the
same hour each day to climb slowly
something over miles into the sky.
Hanging from rubber shock cords
inside their cockpits are meteoro-
graphs, instruments equipped with
automatic pens which record weather
conditions in the upper air.
While these flights were started in
3 small way seven years ago, 1t was
In 1894 that the Weather Bureau OBJ
tanned an appropriation large enough
TO finance this gathering of vertical"
weather data to supplement the "hori-
eontal," or surface, observations, upon
which the national weather forecasts
for the day were based. Then the
service really began to function. For
the most part, the flights are made by
Army and Navy planes, with few
contract stations to fill out where the
military pilots are not available.
Zero Hour 4:15 AM. Here.
Mitchell Field, Long Island, has such
D station. There is another at Boston
and others at Lakehurst, N. j.: Cleve-
land, Washington, Mount Clemens
Mich; San Francisco, New Orleans
and even in Alaska and Honolulu. AT
zero hour-for the East, AIS am; the
Middle West. 3:15 am, Central time
further West, ais am, Mountain time
and. on the West Coast, lis, Pacific
time, the pilots take OF whenever
weather permits-and sometimes in
pretty severe weather. They are sup
posed to climb at the rate of 800 feet
q minute. but at several stations they
bors kick. Recently at Boston the
weather flyer was ordered to change
his course each morning because the
noise Of his engine had been waking
up people long before their regular
rising time Mitchell Field has run
into the same difficulty and 50 have
other stations.
The neighbors don't realize that the
roar of these engines mean that more
accurate forecasts than were thought
possible a few years ago are being
gathered for his particular use. Mr.
Citizen, when he phones the nearest
airport to complain that crazy pilot
Is trying to roll his wheels on the fam
lily rooftree, does not know that through
the agency of this same pilot he is 60
ing to be able to find out whether the
weather will be good enough for golf
the next day, whether he will be able
to go sailing, whether he or nature
must take on the duty Of sprinkling
the lawn. Because of these complaints,
pilots are climbing faster and are COM
ing down faster than the Weather Bu-
reau likes, but, after all, they must
keep peace with the neighbors. even
though their reports lack completeness.
Aid in Air Mass Analysis.
The fact that the pilot has risked
his neck with icing wings, has been
blown out to sea and Is able to get
back just about the time his gasoline
gives out and has cheerfully taken a
dozen other risks has nothing to do
with it. These risks, however. give
rise naturally to the question: What
good are these fights?" DR.. James H.
9Kimball, head of the New York Office
OF the Weather Bureau, has the
answer.
They help to clarity the picture Of
what is going on. They assist mate
rally, especially with the develop
ment Of the new technique required
in air mass analysis, and the inforra-
ton gathered above the surface is
especially valuable in establishing
what the weather Is going to be in the
immediate future
But aside from the service Of the
Weather Bureau to the man on the
ground, there has come the necessity
with the growth Of aviation for sure
and accurate forecasts for the thou
sands now travelling far above the
ground and over the oceans as we'll
Capt. Ernst Lehman, skipper Of the
Hindenburg, complained on one OF
his early trips across the North At
flantic this Summer that If he could
have known more about the weather
he could have saved many hours. The
aerologists of the Unied States Navy
and of Pan-American Anyways, on
their route shortly to be opened to
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