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The National Geographic Magazine 



forecasting might be diminished, and 

 the uncertainty as to the true cause of 

 storms removed, if similar daily charts 

 were also constructed at higher levels, 

 for which purpose the 3, 500- foot and 

 the 10,000-foot planes were selected. 

 After much laborious computation, as 

 shown in the barometry report of 1900- 

 1901, the necessary reductions were 

 made, and we now possess daily weather 

 charts on the three planes mentioned. 

 The study of these supplementary maps 

 is going on, with encouraging prospects 

 of more reliable forecasts of the weather 

 conditions, and it is hoped by January 

 1, 1904, to make them a part of the reg- 

 ular daily work of the forecasting serv- 

 ice. At present the improved data are 

 confined to the barometric pressures, 

 but it is most important to secure charts 

 of the temperature on the two upper 

 planes as well. Unfortunately, we have 

 no observations of temperature in the 

 higher atmosphere suitable for this pur- 

 pose, and they can be secured only by 

 means of numerous balloon and kite 

 ascensions carrying the necessary self- 

 registering instruments. 



MOUNT WEATHER 



• It has been thought proper for many 

 reasons to establish on the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains, at Mount Weather, Blue- 

 mont, Va., a modern meteorological 

 observatory of the best class for scien- 

 tific research pertaining to problems of 

 weather phenomena. A building for 

 administration and for a school of in- 

 struction is being erected, and the plans 

 are w T ell advanced for a suitable power- 

 house and shop for balloon and kite 

 ascensions, which will be built during 

 the coming year. The recent advances 

 in solar and terrestrial meteorology jus- 

 tify us in preparing to study at first 

 hand the variations in the solar activity, 

 and the corresponding changes in the 

 weather conditions, especially from sea- 

 son to season. It is a complex problem 

 and will require the best instrumental 



equipment, the ablest students, and a 

 long series of observations before it can 

 be finally solved. 



The desirability of being able to fore- 

 see a year in advance the type of season 

 probable during a given period is so 

 great as to make it imperative to lay 

 broad scientific foundations at the be- 

 ginning of the twentieth century, which 

 will be of utility for future generations, 

 who will surely build a great science of 

 cosmical meteorology upon such data as 

 can be supplied by the Mount Weather 

 Observatory. 



New submarine cables in connection 

 with the vessel-reporting and storm- 

 warning services have been laid from 

 Sand Key to Key West, Fla. ; from 

 Southeast Farallone to Point Reyes, 

 Cal. ; from Block Island to Narragan- 

 sett Pier, R. I., and from Glen Haven 

 to South Manitou Island, Mich., a total 

 of about 50 miles. Additional vessel- 

 reporting stations have been established 

 at Sand Key, Fla., and Southeast Faral- 

 lone, Cal. 



To meet the demands of the maritime 

 and commercial interests of the Pacific 

 coast a cable has been laid between San 

 Francisco and the Farallone Islands, 

 with a weather observatory and vessel- 

 reporting station on the South Farallone 

 Island. A wireless station has also been 

 installed there to insure communication 

 in future should the cable be out of 

 order. 



RIVER AND FLOOD SERVICE 



The work of the river and flood serv- 

 ice, owing to the numerous and disas- 

 trous floods that occurred, has been a 

 prominent feature of the year. Several 

 of the floods were the greatest of which 

 there is authentic record, and were re- 

 markable both for their wide extent and 

 for their destructive character. Our 

 warnings were prompt and timely, and 

 in the main remarkably accurate, and 

 in no instance was the coming of a dan- 

 gerous flood unheralded. The forecasts 



