986 CLIMATOLOGY 
time relation enters into the rates of deterioration 
because of variable diurnal and seasonai durations of the 
effective factors, which often have upper and lower 
limits. 
The analysis by Brooks covers only a limited group 
of cases. For example, deterioration of rubber, modi- 
fications of glass by certain ultraviolet wave lengths, 
and the weathering of paint by light and rainfall 
coupled with high temperatures have not been con- 
sidered. In this field much work remains to be done 
before climatic data can be applied intelligently to the 
many practical problems of weathering. 
An example of the lack of weather planning of this 
type is the recent case in which importers of a particular 
type of French silk print accused the European ex- 
porters of dumping an inferior product on the American 
market because the silks did not hold up as they had 
done in Paris. The silk prints, long-lived i a damp, 
cloudy atmosphere, literally went to pieces in a few 
weeks under the influence of the more frequent and 
intense direct sunlight found in New York, Chicago, 
and other American cities. The prior determination of 
the comparative sunshine (solar radiation) conditions 
would not have been a difficult task for the climatol- 
ogist [46]. 
Multiple Point or Areal Problem—Simple Time Series 
—Single Climatic Elemeni 
The prime examples in this category are to be found 
among the large number of problems which are con- 
cerned with the marketing, on a state-wide or national 
scale, of the so-called ‘weather goods.” Weather goods 
are referred to by those in the trade as goods whose use 
and sale are primarily determined by nonperiodic 
changes in such weather elements as temperature or 
precipitation. The national distributing system, as it 
serves the retailer, is more closely adjusted to the 
distribution of population than to the synoptic weather 
probabilities. As a result, it happens only too often 
that the bulk of the saleable goods are found where 
there are the most people but not where the actual 
demand is greatest. 
There are of the order of one hundred cities in the 
United States with populations of 100,000 and over 
and these cities account for well over a third of the 
country’s total population. Yet, how many climatol- 
ogists (or distributors) have a knowledge of the number 
and location of cities that are likely to be affected 
simultaneously by the same abnormal weather con- 
ditions? A knowledge of the geographical extent and 
relative locations of areas which may be affected sz- 
multaneously by abnormally high temperatures is ex- 
tremely important in planning the marketing and dis- 
tribution facilities for such “hot-weather items” as 
lemons or soft drinks. If a study of synoptic weather 
data reveals that the odds are 5 to 1 that a summer 
“heat wave” which affects cities in the East with 
fifteen million people will also affect areas in the Middle 
West or South with a population of ten million people, 
then it is obviously poor planning to have 75 per cent 
of the product warehoused in New York and only 10 
per cent in Chicago [28}. 
Another example chosen to illustrate this category 
of problem involves the evaluation of the possible in- 
creased demand for electric power that may result when 
heavily populated but dispersed urban areas, which are 
serviced largely by a common interlocking power facil- 
ity, are affected simultaneously by abnormal and sudden 
decreases in the natural illumination. Such a condition 
can be caused by a sudden development of widespread 
thunderstorm activity, by a fortuitous grouping of 
individual thunderstorms or by the unusually rapid 
development of a heavy cloud or fog layer over the 
area. It is doubtful if such information can be obtained 
by inspection of data available from the usual station 
network. A synoptic-analytic approach appears to be 
the most promising method for the solution of such a 
problem at the moment, although there is the possi- 
bility that a statistical analysis of the data acquired by 
special thunderstorm-research projects might give quan- 
titative information on the probable spacing of thunder- 
storms or on the areal extent of thunderstorm activity 
as related to the spacing (or areal extent) of the service 
areas. However, actual observational material may sub- 
sequently become available through radar storm-detec- 
tion programs or, perhaps, through special thunder- 
storm-observing programs similar to those sponsored 
by the Amateur Weathermen of America. 
Multiple Point or Areal Problem—Simple Time Series 
—Multiple Climatic Element 
This group of problems is peculiarly the province of 
the synoptic-climatic technique of approach. An ex- 
ample is the planning for the aerial mapping of large 
geographic areas or boundaries. The technique of aerial 
photographic mapping requires that given strips of the 
earth’s surface of the order of 100 or more miles in 
leneth be free of clouds at all levels below the flight 
altitude; that illumination conditions (as determined 
by solar altitude, haze, and upper-cloud conditions) be 
favorable; that there be no turbulence at flight alti- 
tudes; and that the surface to be photographed be free 
of snow cover and not otherwise obscured. The element 
of time is not a complex, because the photographic 
flight strips are run in a matter of minutes or hours. 
The possibility or probability of occurrence of the 
proper combination of meteorological circumstances 
over the area cannet be obtained from frequency data 
at a single station alone. However, the analysis of the 
several meteorological factors as they occur simulta- 
neously over large areas will reveal whether or not the 
aerial photographic technique is feasible, determine the 
favorable period for mapping, and may also serve to 
indicate the most economical photographic flight plan 
(flight altitude, order, and orientation of photo strips). 
Another application could perhaps be cited with 
equal validity under the types discussed im the next 
section. It is the use of the synoptic-climatic method for 
weather forecasting. This procedure is now frequently 
referred to as objectwe forecasting. 
