WEATHER SERVICE. 127 



REPORT OF Tin-] JMICHIGAN WJOATIIIOR SERVICJC FOR THE 

 FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1913. 



This service has continued in operation along the same general lines 

 that have marked its administration for some years past. 



In a general way it may be stated that these lines of endeavor are : 



(1) The general gollection and compilation of meteorological data 

 at more than one hundred points in the state. The principal items 

 of data collected and compiled are temperature, precipitation, pre- 

 vailing wind direction and general character of the sky as regards 

 cloudiness, 



(2) The dissemination of the daily forecasts and frost" and cold 

 wave warnings. Michigan nowi has a very valuable asset in the form 

 of twenty-five years' observations which cover the state not as well 

 as is desirable, but in such a way as to give a general and rather 

 intimate knowledge of its climatic characteristics for the period cov- 

 ered. 



The work of the Director of the Service has increased enormously 

 during the past ten years, although the number of stations is not much 

 greater than it was a decade ago. 



Primarily, the administration of one hundred stations requires con- 

 siderable labor, as it involves the selection of voluntary obsen'ers, which 

 in itself, is a ditficult matter. 



After an observer has been secured, he must be kept supplied with 

 instruments, stationery and instructions for carrying on his work and 

 when his reports are received, they are carefully scrutinized, corrected, 

 if necessary, and then compiled at monthly intervals. 



The use of these observations is becoming greater with every year. 

 Meteorological statistics are intimately related with almost every line 

 and phase of human endeavor and in recent years have been extensively 

 used in the extension of Michigan's resources in agriculture. The agricul- 

 turist and horticulturist are demanding more and more information 

 about climate. 



The rapid development of the water power resources of Michigan 

 have also entailed much reference to the records of the Michigan 

 Weather Service and it may be said parenthetically that the water 

 power possibilities of Michigan have hardly been touched, although 

 there are now in operation many large projects. 



Another very important phase of reference to our records is the legal 

 one; our records are being brought into court more and more as illum- 

 inating facts that in hundreds of cases are vital to a just and intelli- 

 gent decision. 



All told, the correspondence involved in these many phases has become 

 enormous. 



The use of the weather forecast is much more general than in the 

 past. As related in my preceding report, the extension of telephone 

 service to rural communities has made it possible for a majority of 

 the more progressive farmers of the state to get the forecast each day 

 by simply calling up their "central" between 10 :00 and 11 :00 a. m. 



