The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-12-13
u. S. WEATHER
SERVICE AIDS
LIFE SAVING
Is Developed to Most ADJ
vance System Known
in History
By FRED BAILEY
United Press Staff Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Dee. -. --
The United States has developed
the most advanced weather fore
casting system in history. DR.. W.
r. Gregg, chief of the weather
bureau. disclosed today,
The weather bureau this yeal
has saved many lives and nun
drcds of millions worth Of prop
crty through advance warnings of
floods. freezes and storms, DR..
Gregg said in report to Secrc-
tary of Agriculture Henry A.
Wallace
Most notable of the advances
made in weather forccaStmg dur
ing the past year WAS made, Dr..
Gregg said. in wcathcr-rcportmg
for airway services. The bureau
added l20 airway reporting sta
tons. bringing the total 10 TS2
stations.
The public, he said, hears much
OF the few airplancS that crash,
but nothing Of the hundreds Of
crashes which probably were
avcrlcd through advance warning
of untavorablc weather condi-
tons. \ ne wailway general SUI
pcrvising and forecast center was
established at Arlington, Va,
during the year.
BAHAMA STATIONS SET UP
misunderstanding service of
the bureau was strengthened by
establishment of an improved re-
porting syStc min the Bahamas.
Twenty stations on tn" islands
now supply daily information Of
vital importance in forccastinE
the approach of hurricanes to-
ward the mainland.
"Thc year afforded some force
full and dramatic examples Of the
important. at times tragic, part
that unfavorablc weather PLAYS in
human affairs and of the highly
constructive role that IN eff
cicntly organized weather service
can assume in mitigating the eff
fectS of such weather" DR..
Gregg said.
The weather bureau was of I'm
cStimatiblc value" Gregg. said,
Tin day-to-day reports of the
1886 drouth and the floods of
last spring. Economic losses from
the floods were enormous, he said,
but would have been infinitely
greater but for the timely warn
ingS of the bureau.
Advance news of high river
creStS kept down the death toll
and economic losses, he said. They
enabled the American Red Cross
and government agencies to pain
and work more efficiently in re-
licving suffering and in effccting
reScuerS. he said.
CITRUS FRUIT SAVED
Without the bureaus timely
warnings Of extremely low tenn
pcraturcS. Dr.. Gregg said, viz
tually the entire citrus fruit in
duStry of Southern California
would have been wiped out by
the record-breaking freeze last
January.
"Other life and property losses
that would have reached the pub
lie ear were prevented - and so
never noticed-by holding ships
in port when the bureaus storm
warnings were hoiSted; by special
provisions for heating or cooling
perishiblc fruits or truck crops
when Il cold or hot wave was
forecast; by concentrating fire
fighting forces when the weather
favored destructive fires in ma
tional forests" the report said.
DR.. Gregg said that long-ranGe
forecasts still are not practical,
but that during the past year the
weather bureau has definitely
strengthened its service by more
frequent reports of surface at
mospheric conditions from q clos
or network Of stations; more
complete program of sounding
the upper air and by expanding
It's research.