The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-12-14
BENEFITS TRACED TOU.S.
 WEATHER DATA
Annual Report Declares FOrecasting System
 Best in History
BY FRED BAILEY United Press Stan COrrespOndent)

United Press Stan Correspondent
 Washington, Dec. IA = (UP) =
 The United States has developed the most advanced weather fore casting system in history, Dr. w. H. Gregg, chief of the weather bureau, disclosed today.
 The weather bureau this year has saved many lives and hundreds of millions worth of property through advance warning of floods, freezes and storms, Dr. Gregg said in a report to Secretary of Agri- culture Henry A. Wallace.
 Most notable of the advances made in weather forecasting dur ing the past year was made, Dr. Gregg said, in weather-reporting for airway services. The bureau added I20 airway reporting sta- tiOns, bringing the total to 7S2 stations.
 The public, he said, hears much of the few airplanes that crash, but nothing of the hundreds of crashes which probably were averted through advance warning of un- favorable weather conditions. A new airway general supervising and forecast center was estab- lished at Arlington, Va, during the year.
 Bahama Stations Set Up
 Hurricane-warning service of the bureau was strengthened by establishment of an improved re- porting system in the Bahamas. Twenty stations on the islands now supply daily information of vital importance in forecasting the ap- proach of hurricanes toward the mainland.
 sThe year afforded some force ful and dramatic examples of the important, at times tragic, part that unfavorable weather plays in human affairs and e the highly constructive role that an efficient Iy organized weather service can assume in mitigating the effects of such weather" pr. Gregg said.
 The weather bureau was of "inestimatible value." Gregg said "in day-to-day reports of the l936 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 warnings 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 plan and work more efficiently in re- lieying suffering and in effect ing rescues, he said.
 Citrus Fruit Saved
 without the bureaus timely warnings of extremely low tenn peratures, Dr. Gregg said, virtually the entire citrus fruit industry 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 public 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 perishable fruits or truck crops when a cold ov hot wave was forecast; by con- centrating fire fighting forces when the weather favored destructive fires in national forests" the re- port 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 atmos- pheric conditions from closer network of stations; more com plete program of sounding the upper air, and by expanding it's