The Weather Bureau 



365 



storm warnings were so well distributed 

 that, notwithstanding that the energy 

 of the storm was so great that few ves- 

 sels were stanch enough to live through 

 its fury, shipping remained safely in 

 harbor and there was not a life lost. 

 These are some of the utilities of which 

 the general public is not thoroughlj^ in- 

 formed. 



COLD-WAVE WARNINGS 



When a marked cold wave develops 

 in the north plateau of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and, by its broad area and great 

 barometric pressure, threatens to sweep 

 southward and eastward with its icy 

 blasts, the meteorological stations of the 

 Bureau are ordered to take observations 

 every few hours in the region imme- 

 diately in advance of the cold area, and 

 to telegraph the same to headquarters. 

 By this means every phase of the devel- 

 opment of the cold area is carefully 

 watched, and when the danger is great 

 each observatory in the threatened re- 

 gion becomes a distributing center, from 

 which warnings are sent to those who 

 have produce or perishable articles of 

 manufacture that need protection against 

 low temperatures. In such cases the 

 system of distribution is so perfect that 

 it is not uncommon for the Bureau to 

 distribute 100,000 telegrams and mes- 

 sages inside of the space of a few hours, 

 so that nearly every city, village, and 

 hamlet receives the information in time 

 to profit thereb5^ What this means to 

 the farmer and shipper is well illustrated 

 by the fact that we gathered from those 

 personally interested statements relative 

 to the sweep of one cold wave, which 

 showed that over $3,400,000 worth of 

 property that would have been destroyed 

 by the low temperatures was saved. To 

 be sure, sometimes the surging of the 

 great air eddies which constitute our 

 rainstorms and cold waves — one the low- 

 pressure eddy and the other the high- 

 pressure eddy — deflects the course of the 

 storm or minimizes the degree of cold, 



and the warnings may partiall}" or wholly 

 fail of verification ; but in these important 

 atmospheric disturbances the warnings 

 are justified in such a large proportion 

 of cases that those whose property is at 

 stake do not longer question the utilit}'" 

 of the Government service. That no 

 other country brings its citizens into 

 such close touch with its weather condi- 

 tions is shown by the fact that even 

 when severe storms are not imminent 

 there is, in addition to the printing of 

 the forecasts in the daily press, a daily 

 distribution of 80,000 telegrams, maps, 

 and bulletins, that place the information 

 in the hands of millions whose personal 

 interests are materially affected by the 

 weather. 



There are over 2,000 daily papers in 

 the United States, and each one of these 

 prints in a conspicuous place the daily 

 weather predictions. Did it ever occur 

 to you that there is no other informa- 

 tion that receives publication and atten- 

 tion by readers each day of the j'ear 

 in every daily paper of the country ? 

 There are 47 tri-weekly papers in the 

 United States, 434 semi- weekly, and 

 14,734 weekly publications, the greater 

 number of which publish the weekly 

 weather crop bulletins of the Bureau 

 for their respective States. Each State 

 forms a section of the national service, 

 and from a central office issues monthly 

 reports on the minute climatolog}' of 

 the State. This climatological data is 

 gathered from standard thermometers 

 and rain gages that are placed in each 

 county. The information finds exten- 

 sive publication also in the weekly and 

 monthly periodicals. 



VALUE OF THE WEATHER SERVICE 

 TO RURAL INDUvSTRIES 



Few people realize what a complete 

 system the Weather Bureau forms for 

 the accurate and rapid collection and 

 dissemination of crop information. ' It 

 has 1,200 paid and skillfully trained 

 officials outside of Washington, who are 



