APRIL, 1926 MONTQLY WEATHER REVIEW i6i
balloon, 8-30, damaged when it was forced down into
trees near Reedville, Ry.
of the race, tlie previous record for balloons of this size was 305 miles; even the smdler Skylark exceeded this
A new menace. nonnieteoroloeicnl in character. was bv more than 100 miles.
Goodgear IV -...
5-23 _____ - - - - - ._ -
Akron N. A. A..
5-21 ___._.__ -. __
Detroit ._________
reported by some of the pilots: \-hile they were skiling
over bhe mountains of Kentucky and Vir inia, several
none of the balloons was hit, it was evidently merely an
admonition from these native sons for the pilots to Beep
on their way. A very complete schedule of broaclcastiiv weather information for the ilots was carried out mth a high
degree of success. 8mm the log of the Goodyear IT' we
learn that messages and programs were listened to during the first night from stations in New Tork City, Cin-
cinnati, Memphis, Hot Springs, and Los Angeles. On
the 30th mention is made of reports from Chicago, St.
Louis, and Pittsburgh. Van Orman in a telegram to the
Chief of the Weather Bureau says, "The weather data furnished at Little Rock, also tlie flying and regular
forecasts which were broadcast, helped us win the nn-
tional race and establish new records. Every flying
forecast broadcast was received, also SO per cent of the
regular forecasts. Please acce t my thanks and convey
In the table below are given some details of the race.
It will be noted that the shortest distance covered by a
contestant was 473 miles, with small increases in distance
from one record to the nest, except for the whiner, who exceeded his nearest competitor by more than 200 miles.
According to Ralph Upson, noted balloonist and starter
of the mountaineers proceeded to shoot t 8' em up. As
them to the members of your 8 ureau who assistecL"
3 miles W. of Qul- nare, Ey., 210 p. m. Apr. 30.
Name of pilot and aid
W. T. Van Orman.. (W. W. Morton)
Capt. H. C. Gray. - (Lieut. D. John- ston).
J . 4. Boettner ......
(H. W . hlnxson)
Lieut. James F.
(Lieut. James F. EarlyJ. Herbert V. Thaden. (C . D. Williams)
Lieut. Wm. A . Gray (Lieut. R. Kie- burtz). Srend A. U. Ras-
(Edward J . Hill) C'apt. L. F. Stone.. I,Capt. G . R . uatmnn).
Walter A. Ham ..-.. (Robt. P. Lehr).
SV. C. Naglor .....-.
(K. W. Warren).
Powell.
mussen.
Entrant
Goodyear Tire dr
Rubber Co., .4kron, Ohio. U. S . Army Air Servicr. S c o t t Field, Ill.
Akron Chapter N. A. .I.. Akron Ohio. U. S. Army Air Service. Phillips Field, Md.
Detroit F I y i n g
Club, Detroit A v i a t i o n So-
ciety. U. S. Army Air Service, Langle) Field, \'a. Detroit Adcraft Club, Detroit, hiich. U. S. Army Air S e r v i c e , Me Cook F i e l d , Dayton, Ohio. Walter A. Ham, Los Angeles, Calif. The Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, Ark.
$C/. S7P. /( 79q) NOTES, ABSTRACTS, AND REVIEWS
EXTRAORDINARY APRIL RAINS IN CALIFORNIA
The unprecedented rains in some parts of California in April, 1926, call for some mention of the attendant
meteorological conditions. On April 1, five days previous to the arrival of tlie
rains, a weak cyclonic system was charted in W. longitude
150'; N. latitude 30': associatetl therewith was an anti- c clone, centered in W. longitude 160'; N. latitude 50".
&e latter, being in the more rapidly flowing eastward drift of the higher latitudes, advanced to the Mackenzie
Basin by the evening of the 4th. Meanwhile the more slowly moving oceanic cyclone had increased considerahlp
in intensity and it continued further to increase, reaching its maximum development on the morning of the 7th
in W. longitude 135": N. latitude 45". Twenty-four
hours reriously an offshoot, from i t hac1 passed inlancl
over 8alifornia giving the general and heavy rains as
above noted.' Tho oceanic cyclone on the morning of the Sth occupied
practically the whole of tlie Pacific north of N. latitude
30 and east of W. lon itucle 170"; it also had encroached
upon the continent as 9 ar as W. longitude 120" in Alaska
and 110' in northwestern Mexico.
If, in the beginniug, the position of the cyclone and
anticyclone had been reversed, as is normally the case in
that art of the Pacific, very little, if any, recipitation
in the forecasting of precipitation in this country that the conditions are most favorable when the geographic
position of the cyclone and the anticyclone is such that the former is to the southwest of tlie 'latter.
This position w-as reached on the 5th and 6th and althou h the centers of the two formations were spearated
woulc P have occurred in California. It is a t asic maxim
by at B east 30' of latitude the result was never in doubt
1 Cf. Reed, T. R., p. 181 of this REVIEW.
Name of balloon P l a c ~~a ,n d ~ Of
8 miles WE. of Petersburg, Va 1:03a.m.May i: 7 miles N. of Mount Holly, N. C., 1238
p. m. May 1. 7 miles NE. of Welch, W. Va., 7A5p.m. Apr.30. 12 miles due N. of Hickory, N. C., 5 p. m. Apr. 30.
s-20.--. . . . . . .
Detroit Adcraft.
9-19. .__ - - -. - - - - -
Qoodyear South- ern California.
Skylark (pilot balloon).
Reedville, Carter County, Ky.,-- p. m. Apr. 30. 3 miles W. of Blaine. Ey., 5 p. m. Apr. 30. 7 miles SE. of Heidelberg, Ey.,
2:30 p. m. Apr. 30. Smiles E. of Brod- head, Ky., 11
8. m. Apr. 30. 4 miles N. of Craw- ford, T e n n . 11:30 a.m. Aprl 30.
-
Dis- mce
[ilea 848
635
-
627
618
574
570
686
510
473
410
-
and was uickly foreseen by the San Francisco fore- caster. Tyie chief meteorological factor concerned in the
citusstion of the rains in uestion was the relative position
above described.
As has been pointed out, that position was the exact
in time and space of 7 t i e two barometric formations
opposite of the one normally to
pressure over the northeast
W. longitude 14s'; N. latitude 32", in
this abnormal pressure distribution
in California. The fact that heavy April rains have occurred once
within the 50-odd yeais of observation can not, however, be interpreted to mean that similar heavy rains will occur
in the nest 50 years. It is within the range of probability that several occurrences of heavy rains m April may be experienced in the nest 50 years and on the other hand
there may not be a single occurrence.-A. J . H. <5/. S78. / ( 265: 1 )
RAIN SQUALLS OF THE ATLANTIC TRADE-WIND REQION
H. Knoch, in Publication No. 335 of the Prussian
Meteorological Institute (Berlin), 1926) discusses certain
aspects of the temperature and relative humidity obser- vations obtained by the late E. Barkow on board the ship Deutschland in the Atlantic trade-wind region during
June, July, and August, 1911. The rain squall3 are phenomena a parently not related to tlie ordinar between latitu es 35" and 20' N. with a fre uency
averaging 1.9 per day, 3 per day between latitu es 20"
and 15', and 2 per da In the
in 0" to 5's. it was 3, drofped to 1.1 between 5' and 10'
S., rose to 3 in the belt 10 -15", and to 4 per clay between
15" and 20" S. These figures are based, of course, on
trade-wind cumu f us. They occurred
5-degree belt north of t Tl e Equator the frequency was 1,
8 between 15' and 10".