| Show weather enters big business field of worlds world s armies navy trade and farms by WALTER A SHEAD staff correspondent there is one thing in which the nations farmers and our military I 1 leaders have a common stake an element which can upset ole th e most carefully laid military plans and the most me meticulously planned agricultural i program the weather r the me farmers success in planting and harvesting and american c n combat success in combined land sea air operations can come only through close observance of the scientific predictions of the weatherman for the weather is often used as a military weapon by our military strategists and our farmers are dependent upon the vagaries of the weather to h harvest arvest a record production or a crop failure no military operation whether it is a minor sortie by a group of fighters a bombing mission on an enemy city naval bombardment of a jap island a ground attack in china or a large scale invasion is never blueprinted unless latest weather information is first consulted success of an attack is dependent upon clear weather though american forces have profitably exploited bad weather to make offensive strikes against the enemy our military strategists were quick to recognize the imbor i tance of accurate meteorological data and so have greatly exi banded the network of observe tion posts trained thousands of officers and enlisted men and I 1 adopted new technological del vices to guarantee reliable fore casts together the the navy and the U S weather bureau weather systems form a vast network of information research observation and forecasting reaching from the united states to all parts of the world observation units vary in size from two men occupying a hut on an isolated atlantic or pacific isle to a major research station with a full staff of specialists the maintains several major research centers and more than 1000 observation and forecasting stations rea reaching ching from the arctic to toa t oa thac cen center ter of this vast scattered weather fr force is in the pentagon building in washington where approximately 50 persons watch the weather in all regions of the world and prepare long range forecasts and special studies to guide our high strategy planners navy maintains stations the navy maintains about 1400 observation and forecasting stations including 14 major weather centrals in some instances units may be aboard flagships or aircraft carriers or on advanced island bases and the units may consist of one man on an a small ship ora or a full fledged central with a full complement of or more officers and men how the navy weather bureaus have grown since 1940 may be seen by the fact that in that year navy under the bureau of aeronautics consisted of less than officers and men in about 50 units whereas today the personnel totals about officers cers and men assigned to the 1400 units the staff of weather specialists numbers officers and men and the I 1 force of observers alone has grown from 50 to service provided by these thousands of forecasters in A TI ais photo shows the effect of weather on the soil on a south paci C island this truck is really mired eludes technical operation and interpretation of results recorded by radio sonde a small box containing a single singie tube short wave transmitter sent aloft abolt on a balloon the transmitter gives temperature and humidity readings 1 at various heights there are also repair technicians schooled in the maintenance of delicate weather instruments communications men who radio or teletype weather reports back to headquarters and aircraft weather reconnaissance mers fliers who observe conditions along the flying routes according to our military men ac formation the and the navy weather forces have been made possible by the careful selection of men from the ranks to specialize in weather information by intensive germany took advantage of bad overcast weather with rain and snow to make their counterattack counter attack in the belgian bulge in the ar dennes low visibility and cold kept our superior air force grounded until clearing weather gave us a break station training and by releasing personnel from the weather bureau for military duty and replacing them by new civilian recruits weather important weapon according to our military men accurate evaluation of weather plus the constant flow of up to the minute meteorological information from all theaters of war make it possible to use weather as an important weapon cited as examples of weather strategy is the sicilian invasion plotting of prevailing wi winds rids and of the movement of cold air front over italy indicated our invasion ships would encounter rough seas on the Z wa 7 excessive rain has caused a landslide on a military road somewhere on the italian front journey from north africa but at the same time our forecasters predicted tranquil waters in sicilian harbors and the almost miraculous calming of the seas as our landing craft neared the sicilian shores has become a military classic admiral halsey took advantage of the cover of a zero zero storm after raiding the marshall and gilbert islands with visibility zero and ceiling zero his ships large and heavy enough to ride out the storm were meanwhile safe from enemy air attack at detail plotting of the upper air strata enabled our forces to lay lav down a smoke screen to blot out our vessels and our planes from japanese ack ack and dive bombers low wind velocity was required so that our screen would not suddenly veer and cover our target instead in condi conditions eions were exactly as predicted and ordered many other i instances ns of the use us e of weather forecasts by our militarists are given eni tor for instance in the normandy invasion weather was bad and the sea choppy but the forecasts were that severe conditions would prevail for at least 21 axis are weather conscious both germany and japan are extremely weather conscious and both have used weather particularly bad weather to screen their activities for instance germanys germanas Germ anys battle of the bulge in the ardennes ardennis Ar dennes was undoubtedly arranged to coincide with bad weather that would keep our superior air strength incapable of decisive blows while german ground forces numerically stronger at that point smashed through A clearing break in the weather came ultimately and our air power went into action to help stop the german offensive according to the navy the japs are not as far advanced in weather technique as either germany or our own military in at least one instance a japanese plan of action did not work out as scheduled because of their weather miscalculations they attempted to bring reinforcements to new guinea under a storm front so that our planes could not spot their movements an unexpected or miscalculated shift dissipated the storm front the troop and supply armada was spotted by our reconnaissance planes they were attacked and destroyed destroyed by the in the famous battle of the bismarck sea methods used by various countries in in weather forecasting vary the tha and the navy use the norwegian theory of air masses and po polar lar fronts and the long series of daily weather charts of the world prepared by the weather bureau as a basis research essential almost endless research was necessary to code the worlds weather data starting in 1942 the weather bureau in cooperation with the military services started in this task using all available weather information in the northern hemisphere for each day since 1899 this information was re plotted and reanalyzed transferred into a standard code and into a punch card system in this way 30 years of weather were charted and analyzed within a year from the areas studied by the army high priority sections where military action would most likely take tak e place a similar card system was evolved and total weather tabulations to date cover about 55 million cards at present about cards are recorded each month |
