15 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



considerable degree of the meteorology of Old Mexico, where there 

 are various sections which receive almost no precipitation except in 

 the months July to September. 



Accordingly, A. F. Moore made a reconnaissance of various moun- 

 tains in southwestern New Mexico. Some proved too difficultly 

 accessible, some deficient as to water supply. He finally preferred 

 Burro Mountain near the town of Tyrone, readily reached from 

 Lordsburg or Silver City. It is of about 8,000 feet elevation and fairly 

 well covered toward the top with medium-sized pines. Small oaks are 

 scattered rather frequently lower down, and in summer, after the 

 rains, grass and flowers spring up, so that the country, which is rolling, 

 is very beautiful. The rainfall is expected to be not far from 10 inches 

 annually, and more than half falls in the months July to September. 



The United States Forest Service welcomed the establishment of 

 the observatory and very helpfully improved a road quite to the site 

 of the station. Water was successfully developed, in ample quantity 

 and excellent quality, close to the road and about 2 miles from the 

 summit. It is easy to truck sufficient water to the station. 



J. Heather, of Lordsburg, contracted for the construction of the 

 observing tunnel, dwelling houses, shop, and garages. Aided by a 

 grant of funds from John A. Roebling, the work was completed in 

 September 1938, and the equipment, formerly in Africa, was installed 

 in October and November under the care of A. F. Moore, field 

 director, and A. F. Froiland, assistant. Actual observations of the 

 solar radiation will doubtless begin in December 1938. 



Although a certain amount of skepticism still prevails among 

 meteorologists as to the importance of the sun's variation for weather, 

 it seems to the writer and to others with whom he has consulted that 

 the results published by him in several recent papers * create a very 

 strong presumption that the sun's variation is in fact the major 

 cause of weather, and that if adequate observations of it were made, 

 meteorologists the world over would be able greatly to improve their 

 predictions. 



1 Sun spots and weather, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 87, no. 18, 1933. 

 Solar radiation and weather studies, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 94, no. 10, 



1935- 



The dependence of terrestrial temperatures on the variations of the sun's 

 radiation, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 95, no. 12, 1936. 



Further evidence on the dependence of terrestrial temperatures on the varia- 

 tions of solar radiation, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 95, no. 12, 1936. 



Cycles in tree-ring widths, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 95, no. 19, 1936. 



Some periodicities in solar physics and terrestrial meteorology, Vestniku 

 Ceskoslovenske fysiatricke spolecnosti v Praze, Rocnik XVIII, Cislo 1-2 (54- 

 55), 1938. 



