Our Heralds of Storm and Flood 



5^7 



in the air ;"' and we are right. The spirit 

 which fired our fathers to cross the wide 

 Atlantic, and which in less or equal de- 

 gree still animates the thousands annu- 

 ally seeking our shores, is fed and fanned 

 by the cold winds from the northwest. 

 The cold wave is born in the heavens 



scatters the foul, logy, breath-soaked at- 

 mosphere in our towns and cities, and 

 puts ginger into the air. We fill our 

 lungs with it and live. New waves are 

 always coming, following each other in 

 regular procession like the waves on a 

 seashore. 



From a photograph. Copyright by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C. 



Willis L. Moore, LL. D. 



Chief of the United States Weather Bureau since 1895, Presi- 

 dent of the National Geographic Society since 1905 



miles above our heads, usually over the 

 Rocky Mountain plateau. Suddenly a 

 mass of bitterly cold air will tumble 

 down upon Montana. It rushes down as 

 though poured through an enormous fun- 

 nel. As it falls it gains momentum, and, 

 reaching the earth, spreads over the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley and then over the Atlantic 

 states, covering them like a blanket. It 



It is fitting, then, that meteorology, the 

 science of the weather, should be a dis- 

 tinctly American product, and that the 

 people of the United States should have 

 the best weather service in the world. 

 The United States government spends 

 $1,500,000 a year on its Weather Bu- 

 reau, which is more money than all the 

 governments of Europe combined spend 



