NO. 9 FORECAST OF U. S. PRECIPITATION — ABBOT 5 



FORECASTS OF PRECIPITATION FOR 32 CITIES, 1950-1967 



This project was sponsored by the Association for Applied Solar 

 Energy of Phoenix, Ariz., and the Smithsonian Institution of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Funds for the costs of electronic computations were 

 supplied to the Association by the Valley National Bank and the 

 Arizona Public Service Company. About 7,000 tables of precipitation 

 were electronically computed by Jonathan Wexler, a student at the 

 Arizona State College at Tempe. He ingeniously programmed the 

 machine for this special purpose. Monthly records of precipitation 

 at 32 stations from about the year 1870 were taken from publications 

 generously furnished by the United States Weather Bureau. 



Table i. — List of stations 



1. Abilene, Tex. 17- Nashville, Term. 



2. Albany, N. Y. 18. Natural Bridge, Ariz. 



3. Albany, Oreg. 19. Omaha, Nebr. 



4. Augusta, Ga. 20. Peoria, 111. 



5. Bismarck, N. Dak. 21. Port Gibson, Miss. 



6. Charleston, S. C. 22. Rochester, N. Y. 



7. Cincinnati, Ohio 23. Sacramento, Calif. 



8. Denver, Colo. 24. Salisbury, N. C. 



9. Detroit, Mich. 25. Salt Lake City, Utah 



10. Eastport, Me. 26. San Bernardino, Calif. 



11. El Paso, Tex. 27. Santa Fe, N. Mex. 



12. Helena, Mont. 28. Spokane, Wash. 



13. Independence, Kans. 29. St. Louis, Mo. 



14. Little Rock, Ark. 30. St. Paul, Minn. 



15. Madison, Wis. 31. Thomasville, Ga. 



16. Montgomery, Ala. 32. Washington, D. C. 



Secretary Leonard Carmichael of the Smithsonian Institution as- 

 signed Mrs. Lena Hill and Mrs. Isobel Windom to assist me in 

 preparing forecasts. He approved grants from funds given for the 

 study of solar radiation and weather by the late John A. Roebling. 

 I am greatly indebted to Miss M. A. Neill for careful preparation of 

 my manuscript. 



I selected 32 cities distributed with approximate uniformity over 

 the United States. The cities chosen are listed in table 1. 



THE METHOD 



As I suppose no one hitherto has ventured to predict values of 

 precipitation, at definite places, for as much as 8 years in advance, 

 I now indicate briefly how it is done. I quote apposite passages from 



