DECEMRER, 1898. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 543
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WHAT A WEB- OBSERVER SHOULD KNOW.
By N. R. TATLOR, Observer Weather Bureau.
What must one know in order to become an observer in the
United States Weather Bureau is a question that perhap€
every man in this service has been called upon to answei
times without number and if this article will give an
adequate reply to the query, the writer will feel that his laboi
has not been thrown away.
The Civil Service Commission will also answer the question
from their standpoint and tell the would-be weather prophet
that in addition to a fair knowledge of the three “ R’s ” he
must know something of physics, geography, history, etc..
and a great deal of meteorology, in order t o secure their
diploma of eligibility, hut they can not tell, if their graduate
is fortunate enough to receive his appointment, whether or
not he will be a success.
A Weather Bureau man serving on station, whether he
ranks as local forecast official, section director, observer, or
revels in the three combined, to be a credit to the service,
must be a man of education and training, and in addition to
being, like Belljamin Franklin, a “ philosopher, philanthro-
pist and printer,” should be a statistician, a geologist and a
farmer; he must be able to prophesy of weather events to
come and keep an accurate and comprehensive record of those
past. He should be an electrician too; and an astronomer,
unaided by any stargazing paraphernalia with which to
sweep the heavens for lost comets.
That a weather observer should be a philosopher is almost
too evident to discuss, as the science he represents is based
on natural laws, many of which yet remain to be discovered,
and the Weather Bureauof to-day with its remarkable achieve-
ments would not be in existence had not thinking men turned
into account their knowledge of physics and applied i t to the
various atmospheric changes, until now the a r t of observing,
forecasting, and tabulating weather conditions follows in im-
portance close on the heels of the science from which it sprung.
It would not seem that philanthropy could enter into
an occupation where cold-blooded calculations, facts and
figures, play so important a part, but i t should be remem-
bered that an observer is a t all times ready to brave every
climate for the benefit of mankind and science; that his
stations are scattered from the edge of the arctic circle in
Alaska to the tropical jungles of South America; that he
should be equally competent to foretell a change of weather
to the weary gold seeker on the Yukon, herald an approach-
ing cold wave from his bleak post in the far Northwest, or
recognize the incipient symptoms of a West India hurricane
as it coils for a spring a t our commerce in southern waters.
Although a printer is furnished to Weather Bureau stations
whose publications are printed, yet there will often arise
occasions when a knowledge of type setting would greztly
increase the value of an observer and prevent many a tempo-
rary break in the records of his etation.
Statistics play no small part in a weather observer’s work,
and in order to compile useful data from which to deduce
important facts in the future, it is obvious that much
depends upon records being intelligently as well as accurately
kept. It is a popular belief ammg some that one day is the
exact counterpart of some other; that back in some period
of the world’s history the atmoephere varied in pressure, the
temperature rose and fell, the winds backed and veered arid
the clouds formed, changed their shape and melted away,
each in their turn, with unvarying regularity, again and again,
to be repeated in regular cycles as the unceasing mill of time
grinds out the years. While many facts tend to prove the
fallacy of this theory, climatic records do not yet extend far
enough back to positively controvert it, and i t rests with the
weather observer in the future, with his accumulated data of
centuries, to establish the truth.
REV-3
The relation between climates and crops is so close that a
knowledge of the latter is indispensable to the proper per-
formance of an observer’s duties, and he should also be geol-
ogist enough to study the soil in his State or Territory with a
view to determine its special adaptability to the various
products. The success of the pioneer, the enjoyment of the
tourist, and the recovery of the health seeker depend not only
upon the climate of a place but upon its productions as well.
The up-to-date farmer is no longer a creature of mere brawn
and muscle ; he relies as much upon the science of his occu-
pation for success as lie does upon the sweat of his brow, and
the official who represents the Climate and Crop Service of
the Weather Bureau should he alive to all his needs and an
unfailing source for any information he may require.
Many of the most important records of the Weather Bureau
are now made by self-registering machines which do their
work with t,he aid of electric contacts, and while it is not
necessary to be an Edison or a Tesla in order to understand
the few principles of electricity involved, an observer should,
a t least, be master enough of the science of this subtile fluid
to account for and remedy any defects in the workings of his
instruments.
While a knowledge of astronomy was mentioned as one of
the requirenients of a weather observer, i t must not be sup-
posed that this science is used in connection with meteorology
in forecasting the weather, or that an observer should be able
to chart the constellations of the heavens, figure out the time
for the next transit of Venus, or meastire the parallax of Sirius.
There are times, however, when a knowledge of some of its
elements is imperative, for he should know how to use those
imaginary points and circles in the celestial sphere in order
to intelligently describe any phenomena that might have a
bearing upon his work. There is the aurora to be described
in all its details, from the first arch of dawn-like light until
it bursts forth in all its variegated splendor; there are halos
of endless variety, both of sun and p noon, to be noted ; there
are myriads of meteors that wander from their orbits among
the stars and shoot into our atmosphere, leaving a fleeting
but luminous track which the quick eye of the observer should
measure; and there Rre many other wonderful things con-
stantly occurring, among and above the clouds, a record of
which would make useful data for future investigation.
There have been many marked improvements made in the
Weather Bureau during its comparatively short existence ;
its methods are more scientific, its aims are broader, its results
more satisfactory; and, in proportion to its progress, its
need for intelligent observers is becoming more urgent. It is
the dream of the Chief of the Weather Bureau to some day
3trike the keynote to absolute accuracy in weather forecasting,
tnd all his subordinates should indulge in the same hope and
work for the same conclusion. To this end, no stone that
:ould hide the precious secret should be left untuned, no
?xperiment, however simple, be untried, and no theory be
.in tested.
OBSERVATIONS AT HONOLULU.
Through the kind cooperation of Mr. Curtis J. Lyons, Me-
;eorologist to the Government Survey, the monthly report of
neteorological conditions a t Honolulu is now made nearly in
iccordance with the new form, No. 1040, and the arrange-
nent of the colunins, therefore, dift’ers from those previously
pblished.
~t 3 .h w r O b g k a ~ obaervatwne at Honolulu.
NOVEMBER, 18W.
The station is at elo 18f N., 157O 50, W . altitude 50 feet. Pressure is corrected for tern eratur: and reduced to sea level, and the gravity :orrection, -0.08, has been apphd. The average direction and force of the wind and the average oloudiness for the whole day are given unless they have varied more than usual, in whioh oase the