The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 20, 1902, Page 15

THE SUNDAY: CALL. 8 INSTRUMENT Room™ 1 THE and by force of the many voluntary observers the storm is observed and its track traced to the point where it van- ishes intc light or into unknown space. It is aa interesting operation this shad- owing a storm—each station sends in irs * clew, and on the map of the forecaster they form a perfect chain ot evidence and observation. Just at this frosts are rife, ir In_ agricultural when storms and and men engaged and manufacturing pur- the weather detectives regarding su picious actions of the temperature, threat- ened rain or cold, etc., and the reports of the bureau are much in demand. Still, the weather man is often told behind his back that his forecasts are all “guess work.” As a matter of fact his warnings are a great factor in the lives and enter- son, with saved by these over $100,000. In the observer's room besides the gen- eral telephone are two others that in time of storms are never idle. One is the linc to the station at Point Reyes, just com- pleted this year. This is the most impor- tant point on the northern coast, and the talephone serves to give news of all ves- sels passing north and south dnd to send a warning for them if needs be by ordef- ing the storm flag displayed. Another line connetts with Mount Tamalpais, a third important point of observation. The tele- graph messeriger boy is also a constant visitor and in a stormy period an almost incessant one. A notable thing in the way of storms, and one that required constant and long shadowing through thousands of miles of destructiveness before it finally leaped out over the Atlantic Ocean, was the great wind and rain storm of March 1 last. The aay began as any other day in the ireau service. The first fore- from-the 5 o clock morning observa- had been to many otner points means was reported at AMIONG THE RECORDS raph, and by 9 o'clock a. m. the her maps of the day had gone from the printing room to the mail. In the forecast rcom three or four men at a tall desk were busy with the second miaps to he réady tor print at 5 p. m with the results of the day’s observations. The man in the instrument room was bisy watehing his instruments and check ing them up.. In:the observer's room the records were being compiled as usual, in- upted by frequent teiephone calls and visitors-with inquiries about the weather on Mount Tamalpais, when would the rainy weather finally’ cease In this sec tion, ete. Outside it was rather cloudy with a light wind from the southeast. The storm king gave no warning that h would on that day break his previou record All the morning sénger - hoys were bringing sirange messages of doubtful meaning to the unimitiated. From all points they came—from Neah Bay to San Diego. - A* strangely ciphered document from Los Angeles read: “Ang: dunner, onercus.” It was date 2 This is a sample taken from many cipher messages ‘reeeived during a i Without stopping to more than g-ar the words.of the dispatch th the forecaster put down opposite Lo: geles on the map a pressure reading 30.08, a temperafure 48 and an arrow indicating that the wind is blowing at that po nt from the northeast at the rate of eight mitles an hour. The maximum and mini- mum’ temperatures,” the amount of rain- falt, the amount and kind, of clouds, with the direction of their movement, all were jotted down. 3 v These messages come in from every im- portant point west of Chicago, and from the British possessions as far north as Edmonton and Battleford. There is prob- aBly not in the world a finer example of rapid concentration of information, for within forty-five minutes these results of the daily observations are telegraphed to the central office at Washington, D. C. That means the covering of milllons of square miles of territory in less than an hour. {Hie blue coated m coming and going, MOUNT TAHEM AL PAL a hurricane before the Burezu watched and the drops of rain almost of-a storm or prises of men and are,usually heeded. ~Then the forecaster began ‘drawing a might be counted. The wind, a more destructive watchful detect of the Weather Bu- Perhaps some of the anxious ones remem- strange. labyrinth of lines on the maps. rmed a sort ters for agent than either rain or cloud, cannot reau have clicked out a telegraphic warn- ber that on a.certain night in February The red end of his pencil marks the iso- detectives whe the doings blow but a black arrow goes down against ing to many stations where the red storm of last year through the instrumentality bars, or continuous lines, passing through nts of equal air pressure, and the blue lead makes the isotherms, or dotted lines, o feathery cloud of the elements. it on the forecaster's map to mark it as flag must flutter. But the storm that may of warnings of freezing weather sent out “daughter of the earth and water,” can a suspicious character worthy of further break over the Golden Gate is not left to by the bureau in a limited distHct In rassire through pointe of cuuel fompmen: rear its head athwart the sky, no sum- watching. spend its fury unwatched. From here and Florida the value of the orange bloom, : ture. e dictated a succession of tele- mer shower that can fall that is pot It can scarcely assume the proportions all of the twelve stations in California vegetables and strawberries protected and grams with forecasts to a number of dis- tributing points in all parts of the State. Then other ~messages, with a note of warning, came, and soon the forecaster had sent out telegraphic orders to the ob- servers at Eureka and Point Reéyes to run warning, for a southeast s way and perilously near. me orders were also sent to the splay men (men hired at $10 per month to put up signals) at Point Lobos, Fort Bragg and Cape Mendocino, to the chief wharfinger. A few seconds later the sinister red flags were fluttering above the familiar wind vane on the Mills build- ing. The streets were darkening and the people were being driven along under a windswept rain. The local forecast official realized from former experiences that he would have his hands full for the rest of that day. And so it proved, with a venge- ance. It was not much comfort, now that the storm had fairly arrived, that from his morning’s data, preceding repor y_comparison with to be s, 'he trace the path of the storm from the might able of its appearance and app termine and forecast su course, Meanwhile he had furn cing to the printing-room, d later, by means of the chalk plate pro- cess, it was being rapldly stereotyped. and before long the was on the press, with a'l its warnings. Before 12 o'clock noon signals were fly- ing along the Califor coast as far south as Port Harford, giving warning tc mariners to be on the lookout for a flerce southeaster. Many a valuable cargo was probably saved through these warnings. As® yet'in the city there had not been much wind. A light rain had begun at 10 a. m., with a wind of eight miles per hour from the southeast. But within the hours there were great changes, The rain gauge on the roof was doing a big busine and fighting its ene the wind. lessages began to come again, and the forecaster had big doings to re- cord on his second m: e day, for a map is made each and n- ing. Before 5 p. m. the wind had reached a velocity of thirty-six per hour from the southeast..and on’ the top of the Mills building the weather detectives felt powerless. Later came the message that the wind w: blowing at the unhearc of 1ate of 108 m an hour from the south- west nearly three vind exceeded a miles an hour. That near- iy laid out the forecaster, for record like it. The wind had him with a new racord for the st. en in_the great storm at Galveston, as, two years ago, the wind only réached 100 miles for the s of s. On the night of 1 safe to be in the t , and the Weather au offices wer 1l of anxious in- quirers and many messages were coming in—all having for their burden querles as ot how high the wind would finally go. The map showed forecasts of small but violent disturbances between Point Reyes and Cape Mendocino. What followed is a matter of history. for within an hour and a half from that time San Frapcisco was cut off from communicatioh from the rest of the world. The next morning was Sunday, and for the first time in a number of years the Weather Bureau station in San Francisco: received ot a single report from the outside. All wires were dewn and the central station at Washington had nosdirect news of all this Western storm and disturbance, as the map issued from there of March 2 shows. Then the forecaster began to study the maps and reports that come in to him. ough them he followed the storm across Ne- 15 vad: going about erage express train, but lirect east and west morning, March 3, he ward ht hou State. nday maps shadowing we Wedne had hu eastern s s making The next day, a day of heavy dle_Atlantic and our Pacific Coast ova Scotian storm h od the st, having made a rney of nerly 5000 miles between Saturday night and the Thursday following, with.the eye of many weather -bureaus alw: upon its course. it over the great At- rm flags of warning coast % mous storm retreated from th ast another one came in, one ¢ con 1al procession through cut the year, and the weather detectives were on tracking duty again ("Tl ‘(rrm warn the bureau are splayed at over points alon €0 of the United Statpen, am]‘«\ rfear; perfect has this s o become that carcely ‘a storm of ma ked danger to maritime interests has occurred fi T years for which ample warnings have not been issued from twelve to wenty-four hours In advance. The warnings given of the approach of sudden and destructive cold s are probably of the next import- anc By studying the servations and worl ports from ship ob- g them up the bu- reau has often been able to trace a storm clear across the Pacific, starting in south Ippines, a typhoon in character rm of the West section of ndian hur- country for which ade Is a territory quare miles, with > side. From this 1 that the forecaster's ¢ Ocean on o it can be unc knowledge of al e 2 tual conditions is often limited ¢ happens that he times s n_his forecasts. The er is the chief station west of t cago, with its many lake will be a long tithe be- fore the. o station approaches those ¢ and Chicago fn im- portance. California twelve stations th mplain that with haven’t_eno the States of New York and Penn: have not as many. The Go¥ernment has done ch. for the West in this regard, and the people benefited should be grate- ful. ry class is represented by the inquiries received at the bureau here, and he past six months received from ¢ places and eli- »derate means to se are all an- of printed records reports from twelyv and the 350 voluntary ob- The rainfall and tem- g all worl p and pub- complet of tectives of the San sureau Alexander G. M ficial and section_director; ocal fore- cast official, ass ¥ ) Norring- ton, Scholl, Smith, Reed, Hyle, Legler, Thomas and Fah This would seem at first breath a large force, but the many and varied di‘mfl.nga upon the bureau warrant it. And keeping track of a windstorm is the most arduous work of all