The
airway weather service covers the United States, Alaska and trans-ocean
flight routes and terminals. Reports and forecasts are issued at
all hours, day and night. Although attention is directed primarily
to the needs of aviation, the general interests of business and
the public are provided for insofar as the capacities of the facilities
and staffs of this service permit.
An
agricultural weather service is maintained to give special attention
to farmers and horticulturists in general. The corn and wheat crop
and the cotton crop services are organized by State divisions, while
the fruit-frost and truck-warning service operates in portions of
a number of States, in which fruit and truck growers are notified
of expected frosts which might necessitate orchard heating, flooding
or other means of protecting the crops.
The
climatological service collects and analyses the records of observations
from all sources in the United States and its territories and over
the adjacent oceans so far as possible. After verifying the data,
summaries are prepared and monthly and annual staticstcs on the
climate of the Nation are published. Climatological records are
extremely useful to economic and social interests far and wide.
In addition to day-by-day uses by a great variety of interests these
statistics are used for study of significant climatic changes in
connection with mass migrations, large-scale economic trends, and
similar problems.
The
hydrometeorological service, which is divided into districts following
the Nation's major geographical drainage areas, supervises the intensive
rainfall-observing network conducted by the Weather Bureau in collaboration
with the U. S. Corps of Engineers and the Department of Agriculture
in connection with their flood control and soil conservation programs.
It also supervises 85 river centers which issue reports and forecasts
of river height for the country's principal's river systems.
The
forest-fire weather forecast service operates in cooperation with
the U. S. Forest Service. Meteorologists, expert in forecasting
periods of weather conducive to occurrence of forest fires, are
stationed at strategic headquarters offices located in forested
areas. In addition mobile units accompany the Forest Service personnel
to the scenes of fires, and there obtain radio reports with which
they prepare weather maps, and from which they prepare detailed
forecasts of local conditions for the benefit of the fire-fighting
crews.
A hurricane
and storm-warning service is maintained to aid shipping and the
general interests of the public at large. This service prepares
storm warnings at district forecast centers which publicize the
warnings by every available means. During the hurricane season,
July to October inclusive, the public in the threatened areas is
warned of the severity of the hurricane, and advised concerning
precautionary measures, Gale and storm warnings are issued throughout
the entire year to safeguard coastal property and shipping. These
warnings are widely disseminated by radio, telephone, teletype,
etc., and by the display of signal flags and lights to nearby shipping
from more than 500 towers located on the seacoast and shores of
the Great lakes, and visible from the vessel fairways.
The
general weather service provides daily maps, bulletins and forecasts
for business, industry and the public. Usually four forecast are
issued daily for the ensuing 36 hours. During critical periods advices
are issued every three hours or oftener. These are published in
practically all daily newspapers, are broadcast over most radio
stations, are disseminated by local or long-distance telephone,
and are available on an automatic telephone installation at many
of the larger cities.
Research
into the causes of weather and climate is carried on continuously.
Special studies are devoted to improvement of forecasts for both
short and long periods, largely for the benefit of rapidly-expanding
and world-wide aviation.. Such research results in an improved knowledge
of storms and allied phenomena, and finally in a greater usefulness
to the public of meteorological information in general. Investigations
are also conducted covering many other phases of meteorological
development such as air-mass analyses; the physical characteristics
of thunderstorms; icing on aircraft; invention and design of new
instrumental equipment, including radar, the radiosondes and robot
weather stations, storm studies as related to flood control in selected
watersheds, and numerous statistical studies including those having
a direct relationship to climatology.
Figure
3 illustrates in pictorial form how the Weather Bureau works
and the manner in which its product is made available to the public.
Reorganization
for War.--What has gone before is designed to give
a summarized description of the creation, growth, and present day
organization of the Weather Bureau for peacetime operation on which
to superimpose the record of its contribution to the successful
prosecution of the war. That which follows is a detailed statement
of what contribution was made by the Bureau to the war effort, how
it was done, and should the need arise how it is proposed to do
it again.
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