OCR Text |
Show GREAT DISCOVERIES THAT MADE "" 1 WEATHER FORECASTING POSSIBLE) 1 GALVESTON HTJERICANE CHART. jttfl ' ' I Laws of Storms and Invention Inven-tion of Telegraph Solved Perplexing Problem. . By ALFRED H. TIIIESSEN. THE weather man is daily asked: "How do yon forecast tho weather, weath-er, anyway! "Docs tho barometer tell you, or do. you look through a gjapp?, I suppose at one time that you told from tho clouds; how do you do it anyway?" Then wo tell our dear, fair and brave questioner that wo forecast tho wo'athor from a map, at which his face is covered with ,an expression of unmistakable blankncss and we perceive per-ceive that ho havo not explained away the difficulties, so wc take tho fair and bravo questioner on our lap (no, doar reader, on our figurative lap), and proceed to unfold tho mysteries of i the map, after which his face ex-presses ex-presses comprehension, interest and great satisfaction, and so docs ours as wo have succeeded in giving away all of our professional secrets. And- let us now tako you too, dear readers, fair and brave, on onr figurative figura-tive lap and explain how tho one great scientific discovery and tho one great invention made forecasting, as it is now dono, possible. The Great Discovery. The story of the present system of forecasting is two-fold. Thero was ono great discovery and one great invention which made it possible to forecast the woathor in the way that it is being now done by our own weather bureau and by other weather organizations throughout the civilized world. The great discovery was mado by an American scientist, William C. Red-field, Red-field, who wns a naval architect, and who spent considerable timo studying problems in meteorology. For years ho gathered together nil tho data ho could obtain regarding the West Indies storms and studied the data by an exceedingly ex-ceedingly practicable method. Whon-evor Whon-evor a storm occurred ho collected all tho information relative to it that was possible. He would then mako a chart of the facts observed at a certain definite defi-nite time. t Ho was thus able to produce pro-duce a scries of syncontic maps, and gained a kind of moving picture of tho fltorm as it traveled from place to How different were those pictures from the ideas bold at that time, 1S30. The general viow then of a storm was that it was a straight-lined galo: that ie, the storm moved in the dfroction of tho wind. If rain or snow came with an east wind, then tho expression was that we were having an cast storm. Redfield's Findings. But RedfieTd after many years of study found .that viow erroneous. What he found is shown on Chart lj and the statement of his laws is as follows: 1. That the air .pressure is lowest at the center of a storm and increases as one pnsses from the center outward. out-ward. 2. Thnt the wind blow? spirally around the center in jvu anti-cjockwiae I direction in this hemisphere, and increases in-creases in velocity as ono approaches the center. 3. That tho whole is a vortex which has n progre?sive movement, and generally gen-erally in an easterly direction north of tbe thirtieth parallel. Mr. Bedficld studied tropical storms mostly and in Ch.irt 1 oxhibits what he found after much stud v. Redfield did not study the particular storm depicted, depict-ed, whifh is the famous Gnlvciton storm of 1000. but others of tho same nature. Tho path of this etorm, or hurricane, i shown from September 1. 1000. to September 12. 1000. and it is remarkable in that it sw.ont over the interior of the country before recurv-ing recurv-ing to tbe east. Utah Storms. The ftorros which visit Utah have the same general mechanical structure, struc-ture, but aro much larger, covering from 1000 to 200O mijos and approHch-ing approHch-ing this country from the northwt-Storms northwt-Storms aro forecast by charting- the weather conditions over tbe whole country, and knowinc the probable pat-of pat-of the storm the forecaster enn predict pre-dict the weather for places onfit of tho storm center. I think that you can now readily Me that even with tho most minute knowledge of the structure of storms this knowledge would bo of no particular partic-ular valuo were it uot for tho tolo-gj-aph or some other means of rapid communication. A Great Invention. 1 On April 16, 1872, tho following telegrams were Kent, from Salt Lako City. Utah, to tho chairman of the Morse memorial meeting, Washington, D. C: r K ' Honor is due to the wi--c and great. Professor Morse waa -both. My affections follow him to the spirit world. ' BRIGHAM YOUNG. Utah cordially joins tbe fraternity frater-nity of states and nations in expressing ex-pressing sorrow at tho demiso and irreparable- loss tho world has sustained sus-tained in tho deccaso of Professor Samuol F. B. Morse. Each successive success-ive year developed through tbo genius of Mprso additional gems of electrical scionco to the great benefit bene-fit of mankind. a Iu each dovclop-menl dovclop-menl ho recognized the finger of divinity and in his unostentatious manner is expressed the sentimont of his first telegram, "What hath God wrought." His namo will shino in letters of living light through all coming ages. DANIEL U. WELLS. Mayor. Theso arc t'o among hundreds of telegrams sent to Washington on the occasion of memorial excrsises in honor of him who made tho great invention which, together with the discovery of the laws of storms, made forecasting forecast-ing possible Without tbo elcctro-magnotic telegraph tele-graph forecasting would not have been possible. Storms could come and go unheralded, so swift, is their flight, without electrical aid. Samuel Finley Breese Morso was born in 1791 at Charleston, Mass. He was graduated from Yale college in 1S10, and thereafter until 1S32 devoted himself to art, and held tlio "professor- ship of literature of the arts of design ' iu tho University of Now York. First of Telegraphs. But in 1S32, the very year that Redfield propounded tho law of storms, whilo voyaging home from Europe, Morse conceived the idea of the electric elec-tric tolegrnph. Ho was attracted by tho new discoveries in olcctro-mugne' tism, which, briefly stated, aro that electricity passed through a wiro wound around a piece of soft iron makes that iron a magnet, uud tho strength of the magnetism is proportionnl to the number of turnH of wiro around the iron. Finally, after much experimentation, in 1S3G ho constructed a telegraph line, one-half mile in length, in a room, and with this real telegraphing was done. Tn 1S37 Morse asked congress for aid, which was refused. He then applied to foreign countries with no better re sults. Alter long disheartening waits and almost despairing, congress granted him $30,000 for his trial line. But that was not sufficient, and Ezra Cornell, bo who said: "I would found a university univer-sity where any person can find instruction instruc-tion in anj study," came to Morse's aid, and soon lolocrraphing was a commercial com-mercial success. The inventor reaped a rich reward not only in monoy, but also rcccivod the unstinted praiso of the whole world, which covered his breast with the badges of its most distinguished dis-tinguished societies. Morse Vindicated. ' AH of this was not accomplished, however, without opposition. Others disputed his right to the invention, and vexatious times were experienced, but Jlually Morso was vindicated in the courts, the decision being delivered by tho chief justice of tbo supreme court of the United States. I ecem to find a parallel in tho lives of Redfield and Morse. Both achievod distinction in the lines quite different from their occupations for which they i were trained. Redf eld wns an architect, archi-tect, and established a law in puro scienco; while Morse was an artist, working with both the brush and tho chisel, and conceived and invented a practical working system of telegraphy. Erroneous Ideas. Imagine the state of the knowledge of storms beforo 1S32. People thought that tho storms moved in the direction of the wind; and many vesrols wera lost, the sailing master being confounded con-founded by tbo whirling action of tha terrific hurricano from which ho knew not how to protect hinifclf. But with a certain knowledge of the mechanics of fitorms a sailing mnstcr can now, even without a foreknowledge of tbeir coming, jo direct his course as to run free from danger. Tho surface winds curve jipirally inward toward the center, but tho lower clouds move in almost al-most a perfect circular pnth around tho contor of the storm. Therefore tho master must direct his vrecl on .a course away from the center, and in general the mariners heed the following instructions: Avoid running beforo tho wind, uk that will lead the vessel directly into the storm center, the region of most H violent winds. Tho best way to sail so tcN as to clear the center of the storm i H to tako ihc wind on the starboard BB tack; that ie, so that the wind blown Bflfl against the right-hand sido of the ve- scl at right angles to it. In genera! wMU such a procedure will, with good sea- HH manship, save the ship. HB It is now seventy years or more oincr HHI the discovery of the" law of storms aud km since wire-tolography was invented. HN Now every civilized nation has its KB weather organization maintained for HI tho purpose of saving life and property, Bflj aud to increaeo tho wealth and comfort 9 of mankind and ingeniously applying gflB our foreknowledge of storms to practi HS cal cuds. And wire-ielegraphy from its mi first simple line has dovelopcd until now (wfl we bring to our aid in gathering in- WB formation relativo to storms, tho tele- jffM phone and wireless tolograpby. EHH |