Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-04-14


worry, / wrote: Il think our
extreme interest in the weather
via radio and television re-
ports-has become a sickly
compulsion."
Comes a letter from a reader
in Washington: DIR. Stein
crohn, you should write a COL
umn or book on that. / wonder
if the average American real
ICES how much his life has be-
come influenced by weather re-
ports"
! wonder. too. People can get
awfully serious about silly
things. I recall only one day
in recent years when the sub
iect of weather should have
held more than passing inter-
est for any of US. That was D.
day. Would the weather allow
crossing Of the English Chan
nel2 Probably our own lives and
that Of our children and grand
children depended upon the
weather reports that day. For
. tunately for Gen. Eisenhower
and the rest of US. the weather.
man did a commendable job.
How long now, as a nation,
have we been unduly weather.
conscious? I'd guess that it has
been going on for at least 10
years. 1t has become a full
blown national neurosis. People
ask: What's the weather out
+. look for today?" or How does
it look for tomorrow" They
say. Il see where they're having
a blizzard up north" or Il just
heard that yesterday was the
hottest day we've had in the
history of the Weather Bu-
reau." And so 1t goes, with
many variations.
What's the Use?
OF what use is it all? One
might think We we're a ma
ton Of picnic-going enthu-
. siasts whose very happiness
depended upon whether the
weather was going TO be good
tomorrow. Day by day we sink
deeper into the mlre of this
compulsive neurosis: Abnormal
heather consciousness.
There was a time when the
man Of the house turned first
to the sports page at break
fast Now it's the weather re-
port. I've heard youngsters
who should be first turning
to their comics say Nom.
guess what? It's going to be
zero today
Radio and television
announcers blare out their
forecasts Of heat, cold, snow,
hail. floods and other catas-
trophic weather changes as If
they were making pronounce
ments OF earth-shaking i'm
portance. When they announce
the cure for cancer they cannot
possibly put more emotion"
into it than they now give to
the simple phrase, 1T looks
like a hot day tomorrow
We mustn't forget television.
MY friends used to say: Guess
I'll stay up for the late news"
Now they stay up for the
weather reports.
Unmerited Prominence
! can understand how a pro-
fessional golfer or any other
kind OF athlete would be curious
about tomorroW's weather. So
would a boating enthusiast or
an airline pilot However, for
the rest OF us land that means
at least $50 Million weather
information does not deserve
It's recent elevation TO promi-
nence.
Has last nights weather re-
port ever influenced you to
wear your rubbers the next
morning? or to take along your
umbrella or raincoat? doubt
1t. Usually we make our deci-
sions on the spot. We look out
the window. Perhaps we inspect
the thermometer, or hold out
our hand to see If it's raining.
] think 1t puts a little more
zest into living TO learn to rely
upon our own personal predic-
tions about the weather. What's
more satisfying than 70 go out
without a raincoat when every
body's been saying tits going
to rain cats and doRs"-and
come home dry and comfort
able.
Never Heard Of Bureau
And suppose we are OCCASION
elly WrOng9 Sunnose n turns