118 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW ~C H , 1926
Dste
12th. ___ . .do _____ 30tb..--. llth----- 7th ...-.. 23d ______ 22d ______ llth----- ..do ____-
OBSERVATIONS FROM GREENLAND
Weather observations broadcast from the recently installed radio station at Julianehaab, Greenland, are now bein received regularly in Europe, and since March
Maps. It is expected that these observations will shortly be re ulsrly available in the United States and Canacla. The Ei: anadian radio station a t Belle Isle is under in- structions to pick up these messa es, and is already
collect and transmit weather messa es from the low- power radio stations at Godthaab a n f Godhavn, on the west coast, and Anmnagssalik, on the east coast of
Greenland.- W. E. d b d .
19 have % een published on the British Daily Weather
receiving them irregularly. Juliane a aab will also later
______
Lowest
______~
Inches
27.9'3
28.44
28.56
29.811
29.85 29.12
29.6s
2R.M 29.74
By WILLIS EDWIN HURD
A glance at the pressures over the North Pacific Ocean for March, 1926, shows again, as in January, a considerable departure from the average. The center of
the Aleutian LOW was at Dutch Harbor, with a pressure of 29.27 inches, almost a half inch below the normal. The crest of the anticyclone lay a few hundred miles southwest of the Washington coast. At Tatoosh Island the monthl pressure of 30.15, was 0.17 inch above the avera e. Aence the normal March gradient of 0.24 inch %&ween Dutch Harbor and Tatoosh Island in- creased this month to 0.95 inch, thus establishing an extraordinary gradient for the time of year.
The following pressure table gives data for several
land stations:
Dutch Harbor1 ___.__.-__. St. Paul 1 _____
~
__._______. Kodiak 1 ____
~
______.__.__
~
Midway Islnnd 1 _____
~
-___ Honolulu 2 ____
~
----__----- Juneftu: ___________.___--_ Tatoosh Island 2 I _____---_ Snn Francisco 3 8 ______--_- 8an Diego': __________--__
TABLE 1.-Averages, devartutes. and extremes of atmospheric North Pacific Ocean,
__--
Inches I Inch Inchc8 29.20 -0.47 30.07 29.45 -0.30 30.1G
28.52 -0.23 3 0 .2 30.00 -0.02 30.21 30.07 +0.03 30.23 29.99 +0.05 30.5?
30.15 4-0.17 30.45 30.03 -0.02 30.3R
. 30.00 -0.02 30.30
pressure at sea -leuel ai indicated hours, March, 1086
I 1 I
normal Station
NOTE .-c OrrePtiOU Dutch Harbor, were indkates too low. telegraphed pressure readings for February, Average should be 29.25 instead of 20.20.
__
Date
__
18th. do. 1Yth. 1st. 31st. 21St. 30th. 24th. do.
-
1926, at
In connection with the active cyclonic circulation which continued over the eater part of the northern half of
The American steamer West Bizton, en route from Oregon toward J a an, reported snow squalls daily west of ion i-
arrived at her destination. More snow seems to have fallen along the northern steamship routes over the western two-thirds of the ocean than during any of the three previous months. On the contrar , over the
fell than usual. At Juneau, while precipitation was much more than the average, the total snowfttll, 0.1 inch, was the least ever known for the month. This March was the second warmest on reoord at Juneau, and was the
the ocean! gales an f heavy snow squalls were frequent.
tude 160' g, ., from the 1st to the 13th of March, when s % e
eastern part of the Gulf of Alaska, probab 9 y less snow
warmest of record at various places along the American coast, including San Francisco and San Diego. The month was also warmer than the average at Honolulu. Observations indicated few gales along the north American coastline. These include some moderate northeasters over and southwest of the Gulf of Tehuante- pec, and the few gales reported by steamships off British Columbia. West of 140' W. ales were frequent to
170' E., but between there and t % e Japanese coast, from
30' to 50' N., they occurred on a greater number of days than elsewhere.
Two storms of considerable violence appeared upon the maps. On March 10 and 11 a cyclone emerged from Japan, accompanied by heavy snow and whole to hurri- cane gales east of Hokkaido, and lesser gales as far south
as the Ogasawara Islands. As t'he storm moved eastward, near-hurricane winds accompanied it until the 13th. On that date gales of force 11 occurred over a considerable
region south of Kamchatka. After the 13th the energy of the disturbance abated. Meanwhile, over the west- central Aleutians, there gathered one of the fluctuating centers of the Aleutian LOW. The progressive c clone joined forces with it near the one hundred and eig 3; tieth meridian and 50' N., on the 17th, and from this merger there developed a vast low pressure area between Japan and British Columbia, at the center of which, Dutch Harbor, the pressure on the morning of the 18th had diminished to 27.98 inches. This was more than 2 inches lower than the ressure readi at that time at
enough, despite the gradient, on that day there were no reports of gales exceeding force 9 on the ocean, but on
the 19th near-hurricane winds were encountered in the
neighborhood of 48' N., 155' W. The progressive move- ment of the storm continued, and the center entered the British northwest on the 21st.
The second important storm was in the process of develo ment on the 26th as a secondary to the LOW then
in day, at which time it was central near 35" N., 150' W!, that it acquired much energy. On the 28th and 29th it attained considerable violence in its northwestern quadrant, where gales of force 11 were ex erienced by
steamers bound to or from the Hawaiian Is Y ands. The storm took a rather extraordinary southward course, being central on the 29th at about 27' N., 152' W. On the 30th, in 25' N., it lost most of its energy, though it continued as a depression east to northeast of Hawaii until the end of the month.
'
The prevailing wind at Honolulu, as during many months past, was from the east, though the maximum
wind velocity, 34 miles er hour, was from the southwest,
the 26th. March was the filth consecutive month here with deficient precipitation, and the eighth with excess temper a ture .
was observed less frequently than for several
in the frequency of its occurrence otherwise since February over the eastern part of the ocean. It was reported on the
the last %ecade, near 50' N., 140' W. Reports o?fog were infrequent from east longitudes, and it seems to have,been coifined largely to coastal waters east of Japan and between Hon kong and Shanghai.
on the loth, in 43' 04' N., 146' 28' E., and was also
observed in the neighborhood on several other dates.
both Vancouver and t l? e Hawaiian Is "$ ands. Singularly
centra P over the Aleutians, but it was not until the follow-
during the formation o P the c@one to the northward on
mon ti s past along our coast. There was little change Fo
reatest number of days, principally durin
An ice fie1 5 about 5 miles in diameteriwasireported
MARCH, 1926 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 119
NOTES
By John Preller, second officer American steamer Tejon, San Pedro t o Balboa.-" March 28, 3 p. m., local time. In latitude 16" 56' N., longitude 100" 36' W., noted a mirage. * The steamship
Empress of Scotland passed about 5' to theTsouthward, and@ times she appeared as if cut in two, her center disappearing, while atlother times bow and stern were lost and only the middle showing.t&Sea
smooth at the time. Sky clear. Variable winds during the,day boxing the compass." By W. H. Walker, master of the American steamer Eelbeck, Panama t o Honolulu.--"On the passage of the American steamship
Eelbeck from Panama Canal to Honolulu, on the great circle track,
there was a complete absence of the northeast trade winds; the vessel passing through light variable winds and calms for 16 days. On the 28th of March, however, when in longitude 143' West, the
ship met with strong winds from the southward, accompanied by a
rough sea and heavy rain. This lasted for 15 hours, shifting to the west and northwest, bringing up a high head sea which con- tinued to retard the vessel's progress until reaching the vicinity of
the islands, when the sea moderated. This unusual weather delayed the ship 24 hours."
- W. E. H.
g5/- 5-06 (73) DETAILS OF THE WEATHER IN THE UNITED STATES
GENERAL CONDITIONS
During the first half of t8he nionhh t8he movement, of cyclonic st80rms mTas mostly along t8he nort8hern border but toward the end several rather int,ense st>orms cle- veloped in the far Sout,hwest and moving across the cen- tral valleys passed off t,o sea. During the passage of one of these storms heavy snow fell over t8he sout,hern Great Plains re ions-Kansas t'o Texas. Anot,her feat>ure coni-
in energy of the c clonic storms when reaching the CCL-
Temperature east of the Rocky Mount,ains, except over Montana and the Dakotas, was below nornial several degrees as shown on Chart 111; it was above normal by the same amount west of the Rockies. The usual de- tails follow.-A. J . H.
mon t,o a 7 1 of the months of 1026 was t,he great increase
naclian Maritime 9. rovinces and adjacent oceanic ares.
CYCLONES AND ANTICYCLONES
By W. P. DAY
The first 12 days of the nionbh were marked by gen- erally high ressure over Cmacla and an accompanying
in southward over the United States. Fire of the seven Al%erta HIGHS were charted during this period. During the remainder of the montjh the HIGHS were more varied with res ect to place of origin. The HIGH which appeared in the 8 orthwest about the 25t,h was a combinntionof Alberta and North Pacific t.ypes. Eighteen LOWS were plot8t,ed, several of which were quite important *as storms. Of t'he lather, four were of the Texas type, 1. e., secondaries developing over north- eastern Mexico ancl southern Tesas.
succession o P high-pressure areas from t'his region spread-
FREE-AIR SUMMARY
By V. E. JAKL
The free-air temperatsure departures at all nerdogical stations were negative (see Table 1) and as a rule in- creased somewhat with albitucle. This departure aloft
ext,ended to some portions of t,he country where surface temperatures were above normal, as over Nort'h Dakota, where Chart 111, this REVIEW, shows bhat it was warmer than normal. Over Ellendale a change t80 a negst,ivc! departure took place at no great elevat8ioii above t8he .ground, the average departure increasing with alt,it>ucle to -3' C. a t 4,000 meters. The greatest de arture was
surface negative departure, as shown on Chart 111, was also greatest. Relative humidities showed no import'ant' de arture at any stat'ion. gree-air winds were of more northerly component and
geater velocity than normal, the general directions hav- mg been about northwest over middle sect,ions of the country and more nearly west over eastern sections
a t Royal Center, in the general vicinity o P which t'he
(see Table 2). Except at San Francisco, winds having a decided easterly component to high altitudes were al- most absent, even over the most smtherly stations. At San Francisco they were observed on 10 days scattered throughout the month. An exce tion is also noted at
21st to 10,000 meters. Examples of wind velocity increasing rapidly with altitude as surface friction is surmounted are very common. However, instances of ra id increase are also
accountecl for, as at Broken Arrow on the 2d. This ob- servation showed a stratum of light northeasterly wind extending SO0 meters above the ground, at the top of which the velocity fell to 1 meter per second. Imme- diately above this stratum, the wind changed abruptly
to westerly and increased in velocity to 18 meters er second at 1,300 meters and to 32 meters per seconzin the next 3,000 meters. A somewhat similar condition is noted in the record of the afternoon two-theodolite pilot balloon observation a t Groesbeck on the 26th, where a northeasterly wind extended with diminishing velocity to 2,000 meters, above which an abrupt change to southw-esterly occurred, with rapid increase in velocity from 1 meter per second at 2,000 meters to 27 meters In both cases a higher sea revel pressure is found t o the north or northeast of the station, which accounts for the northeasterly winds in the lower levels, and a general pressure and tempera- ture situation over the country as a whole to account for the strong westerly winds in the upper levels, with evidently a shar line of discontinuity .intervening.
under ordinary conditions of fair weather, the velocities in the transition stratum are always very light. An indication that surface friction over a not very rough terrain is in$Fectual in causing turbulence t o an
IS shown by the record at Dresel on the morning of the Iith, when a steady southerly surface wind of from 8 to
10 meters per second increased to 30 meters per second from the southwest 400 meters above the ground. The surface and aerological observations indicate that at the time of morning surface mininium temperature ( - 1.1'
C.) the temperature increased steadily with altitude to 16.4' at 400 meters. As soon as insolation began the surface temperature rose rapid1 to a maximum of 23.3'
had extended to any considerable height, a positive lapse rate would have been observed within that height. The kite flights at Royal Center on the lGth and 17th show a change to higher free-air temperatures from one day to the next, the station on the first day being in front of a LOW and on the second under relatively higher pressure in the rear of a HIGH. A similar temperature change is noted in the Washington Naval Air Station airplane records of the 5th and 6th, where the change was
Ithaca, where a northeasterly win i! was observed on the
occasionally observed that obviousy r can not be thus
er second at 4,100 meters.
Where an abrupt c rl ange in direction with altitude occurs,
perceptible height when the temperature is rising alo 9 t
C. in S hours. If, before inso s ation began, turbulence