WEATHER MAP AND OFFICIAL WEATHER INDICATIONS. 245 



METEOROLOGY. 



THE WEATHER MAP AND THE OFFICIAL WEATHER INDI- 

 ^ CATIONS. 



BY ISAAC P. NOYES. . ' ' 



Occasionally we hear the remark — "the Signal Office was way off in their 

 weather predictions yesterday" — "They have not been doing well for the past 

 two or three days." The weather, like many other things is irregular. At times 

 it is almost like clock-work, and may be very well defined for even three or four 

 days in advance; then comes a change. The relations of " High" and " Low" 

 are such that it is more difficult to tell what the weather will be twenty-four hours 

 in advance than at other times to tell what it will be for three or four days in 

 advance. The elements which go to make up our weather system do not oper- 

 ate in regular grooves, but on the contrary are ever on the alert for the best op- 

 portunity. Heat and cold vie with each other for the mastership, and "low " is 

 ever seeking the most favorable localities to advance to, and is all the while being 

 thwarted in its course and check mated by " high." In this department of nature 

 as in all other departments, even in affairs of men, as in politics, the great end is 

 after all, more or less influenced by compromise. Nature in this respect, often 

 sets us a wise example. Not that all our actions should be governed by com- 

 promise, yet a judicious compromise is often times the part of wisdom. 



May 27th to 31st, inclusive, well illustrates the point in question and reveals 

 some of the difficulties that the Weather Bureau labors under. When a statement 

 is made by this office and the same is not fulfilled the weather-map of the suc- 

 ceeding day will reveal the cause and a cause that any fair minded and intelligent 

 person will readily comprehend and make allowance for. The weather map re- 

 veals everything and conceals nothing. May 27th the new "low" was in the 

 northwest, "high " in the east, both moving toward the orient. The appearance 

 then was that on account of the situation of " high," " low " would be deflected 

 to the north and that the weather for this locality lor the next two or three days 

 would be warm and pleasant but not hot. On the 28th the main lines of "high" 

 had passed off and left the coast apparently clear for " low " to advance without 

 interruption, and the indications were that the advanced lines of "low " would 

 be here on the 29th, passing this locality from the 29th to the 30th. It looked 

 bad for Decoration Day. But "high" after all was not so fast about getting en- 

 tirely out of the way, as it lingered and the rear guard retarded the advance of 

 "low." For the next twenty-four hours "low" made very little progress and 

 what little advance was made was more to the southward than the eastward; yet 

 we were all the while on the look out for it and expecting it e,very hour. 



