Evening star., 1941-06-27

The dual task of fOrecaSting the
weather for the public and for air
craft operators is being consoli-
dated at the elaborate new United
States Weather Bureau station now
in operation at the just-cOmpleted
National Airport.
The straight forecasting service
has been moved from the old
Weather Bureau headquarters on
M street near TWenty-fOurth street
NV. for coordination at the new
airport with the airways Office for
merly operated at Washington
Hoover field. The personnel of the
station now numbers about 35.
Special equipment for charting
three e-dimensional' weather condi-
tions and forecasting has been set
up on the third floor of the airport S
administration building. where at
least one forecaster and observer
will be on duty "a hours a day.
The Weather Bureaus admins
tration headquarters Will remain in
the old building on NJ street, but
forecasts for the District, Maryland,
Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee
and New York will be issued from
the airport station. Airways fore
casts also will be issued for these
areas
Balloons Broadcast Twice Daily.
Twice daily, at 1890 pm. and
1890 am, the station sends up s.
feet helium balloons equipped with
a radio-sound recorder for broad
casting the temperature, humidity
and pressure at levels up to high
point in the stratoSphere where the
expanding balloon bursts and drops
the broadcaSting unit in a small
parachute.
Four times daily, at 6-hour inter-
walls, the bureau dispatches pilot
balloons to determine wind velocities
at attitudes within sight of ground
observers. The radio balloons are
released from about 80 stations
scattered over the United States
and the pilot balloons from some
120 stations, including two on Coast
Guard ships near the North Atlantic
airWays.
Data gathered from the balloons
and from ground observations are
put on interconnecting teletype sys-
TENS for the compilation of wealth.
er charts. The station here gets
clearance from the air control tower
before releasing the larger balloons
to prevent possible collisions. The
lighter balloons could scarcely dam
age an airplane in flight, it was
said.
Interesting to Laymen.
To the layman, there is magic
about the instruments and con-
trolls in the big room where the sta
ton functions.
Visible through the glass wall at
one end of the room is a shifting
pointer marking the velocity of each
gust of wind and an arrow pointing
the true direction.
On sloW-moving scrolls of paper
lllly II SNdI lJCL1S u dIC ldlC llllCo
to record permanently the sunshine,
the rainfall, the temperature, the
atmospheric moisture, the wind S
direction and speed Many of these
are connected with instruments l 500
feet away, we'll apart from any local
influence of the building or the fly
ing field.
All these readings and several
more are going out over the tele-
type network of the Civil Aero
nautics Authority to all parts of the
United States, and by radio to ships
at sea, while from all these points
readings like them are pouring in,
with an ease and quickness never
possible in the old station in
Georgetown.
Data Go on SynOptic Chart.
AS they come in on specially
equipped teletype lines, partly in
letters, partly in figures and partly
in symbols, the reports are entered
on one large map known as synop-
tic chart.
There are graphs to show the
physical characteristics of the upper
air and small maps to show the cir