68 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



injure the vitality of tlie organization unci are certain to be reflected in fnture 

 inferiority and inefficiency. Another legislative year should not go l)y without 

 some concrete congressional enactment making the promised reclassification 

 effective. 



The outstanding feature of the past year as regards weather phe- 

 nomena is undoubtedly the flood conditions. The year ending June 

 30, 1922, will rank as a great flood year for the entire Mississippi 

 River Basin and others immediately adjacent thereto. Occurring at 

 the time of the practical completion of the levee system and made 

 excessive by nearly simultaneous flood stages in its large tributaries, 

 the 1922 flood in the lower Mississippi River tested the efficiency of 

 the levee method of flood protection in a way which is certain to be 

 of great help to its proponent engineers and possibly will aid critics 

 to show the weaknesses, if any, of such protective schemes. 



A number of notable storms, some accompanied by heavy losses, 

 are mentioned in later pages of this report, and still more complete 

 and detailed accounts have been published in the current issues of the 

 Monthly Weather Review, or will appear in separate bulletins. 



FORECAST SERVICE. 



A hurricane occurred on September 8 to 15 in the Atlantic, passing 

 near Bermuda on the latter date, and another near Bermuda about 

 the 12th, while a third severe cyclonic storm of tropical character 

 occurred about the same time in the southwest Gulf region and prob- 

 ably caused the torrential rains producing the unprecedented floods 

 in southern Texas of September 9 and 10. 



The only hurricane that actually touched continental United States 

 passed over the Florida Peninsula on October 25, 1921, and caused 

 large property damage, mostly from high tides. This storm demon- 

 strated the inestimable value of wireless communication in the hurri- 

 cane-warning work of the Weather Bureau. It was first detected 

 by a radio report from a ship in the western Caribbean Sea during 

 the afternoon of October 21. Warnings were immediately broadcast 

 to ships in that region. For five days this storm traveled entirely 

 over water areas. Its center, direction of movement, intensity, and 

 rate of progress were determined principally by vessel reports and 

 warnings and advices were radioed four times daily to vessels in the 

 south Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The 

 hurricane was approaching the usual course of vessels bound to and 

 from United States and Mexican ports on the Gulf coasts. The ob- 

 servations received from vessels during the progress of the storm 

 clearly indicated that the warnings hacl been received and heeded. 

 All ships whose courses were in its direction turned back or changed 

 their routes to avoid the hurricane. Only one ship was lost and 

 property amounting to hundreds of thousilnds of dollars, which could 

 be moved or protected, was saved as a result of the timeliness and 

 accuracy of the warnings. 



On June 12, 1922, a tropical disturbance was located in th;- south- 

 west portion of the Caribbean Sea. It was of moderate intensity 

 but was accompanied by torrential rains in the vicinity of Swan Is- 

 land. It moved into Honduras and Yucatan, and caused heavy 

 floods in the rivers of Salvador and probably in the adjoining repub- 

 lics. The disturbance passed inland just south of the mouth of the 



