A number
of factors must be taken into account in deciding on the relative
position of the civil and military weather services. It is obvious
that the work of the Weather Bureau could not have been efficient
for war purposes unless there had been continuous and effective
liaison with the military services and the civilian agencies which
direct war production and other activities on the home front. Therefore,
at the outbreak of war it was necessary to draw up a comprehensive
outline of a world war weather plan. Such a plan, complete in all
essential details, including the needs of the military services,
was prepared for use as a basis for doing first things first and
eliminating waste and shortages. (A copy is available in the Archives.)
The
War Advisory Council on Meteorology.-The War Advisory Council
on Meteorology was organized by the Chief of the Wether Bureau in
October 1942. The Council was set up asa a Bureau organization under
the general direction of the Chief of Bureau but directly under
an official of the Bureau as Executive Secretary. The staff was
composed of Wether Bureau personnel and the organization was financed
entirely by directly appropriated funds within the regular budget.
The initial organization of three persons on October 1942, grew
rapidly to a staff of 28 persons by June 1943, and has remained
at that level to November 6, 1945. Personnel procurement and training
was a continuing problem due to the limited and steadily decreasing
supply of qualified persons. It was found necessary to fill nearly
all sub-clerical and graphic positions with persons having only
minimum qualifications and with no training or experience in compiling
or analyzing meteorological data. Although no insurmountable difficulties
were encountered in meeting an excessive turnover, the organization
was forced to operate less efficiently than would be expected under
peacetime conditions.
The
overall objective of the Council was to render assistance to the
Armed Forces on meteorological and related problems as assigned
by either the Joint Meteorological Committee or the Chief of Bureau.
Assignments were accomplished by making fullest use of the Bureau's
climatological resources, professional talent, and operational facilities.
In
December 1942 a request was received from the Joint Meteorological
Committee to provide special climatological studies to be used for
long-range planning of military objectives. At this time, extensive
studies designed to improve and extend the range of forecasts were
being carried on by the meteorological staffs of the Weather Bureau,
the Army, the Navy and in collaboration with educational and research
institutions. However, because of the demonstrated value of statistical
climatology to the military planner, the Joint Meteorological Committee
requested the War Advisory Council to concentrate on the preparation
of special climatological studies for specific localities which
they would designate. Accordingly, "Weather Guides for Long Range-Planning"
were prepared for 26 locations in the Mediterranean and Pacific
theaters of war.
Weather
Guides for Long-Range Planning.--The primary and continuing
function of the WACM was the preparation and issuance of special
climatological studies of foreign locations within existing and
anticipated theaters of war. These studies under the title of "Weather
Guides for Long-Range Planning", were prepared at the request of
the military services through the Joint Meteorological Committee.
In all, twenty-six foreign locations were assigned, the list being
revised and amended as progressive military developments dictated.
Primary distribution of the Guides to the military was accomplished
through the Office of Air Adjutant General and the Bureau of Aeronautics,
although a number of the Guides were regularly sent to
subdivisions of the military departments at their specific request.
During
the period from January 1943 to June 1945, approximately 25,000
copies of the Weather Guides for the following locations were prepared
and distributed:
- Baku,
U.S.S.R. Port Blair, Andaman Islands
- Tunis,
Tunisia, Medan and Sebang, Sumatra
- Bucharest,
Rumania Singapore, Straits, Settlements
- Budapest,
Hungary Batavia, Java
- Milan,
Italy Penang Island Straits Settlements
- Genoa,
Italy Eastern Java and Bail
- Marseille,
France Naha and Naze, Ryukyu Islands
- Madrid,
Spain Shana, Kurile Islands
- Jaluit,
Marshall Islands Formosa Island
- Truk
and Ponape, Caroline Islands Southwest Portion, Hokkaido
- Palau,
Caroline Islands South Central Coast, Hokkaido
- Rangoon,
Burma Extreme East Coast, Hokkaido
- Titizima,
Bonin Islands Northwest Portion, Hokkaido
Approximately
1,000 copies of each Guide Were printed and assembled, using Bureau
reproduction facilities. Due to military restrictions no general
distribution was made, although a complete file was maintained in
the Bureau Library and a small surplus of each study kept in WACM
files.
In
developing these Weather Guides, all the climatological data available
in this country were brought into use. In nearly every case, these
data were contained in the climatological publications as periodically
issued by the meteorological organization of the governing country.
Only for certain European locations were special summaries of ceiling
and visibility data available for "flying weather" statistics.
In
general each Weather Guide was published as an 11 x 15 inch pamphlet,
consisting of from eight to twenty-two pages. The format consisted
of a title page followed by a page presentation showing both the
large-scale global location of the general region and a small-scale
topographic map of the specific location. An explanation of the
purpose of the Guide, a complete history of the available data with
remarks as to their character, followed by an example in. the use
of the Guide, always preceded the pages containing the presentations
of the data.
The
climatological data were presented in a graphic form especially
designed to show both the probable or "most likely" conditions to
be encountered and the extreme conditions which might occur. In
addition to these presentations, day-to-day sequences of "typical,"
"good," and "bad" weather were included. Related to these presentations
was a series of small-scale meteorological charts showing examples
of meteorological situations which would produce either "good" and
"bad" weather within selected seasons.
One
particular handicap under which the War Advisory Council worked
while compiling the statistical data was the lack of a sufficient
number of copies of climatological data for foreign countries. This
lack was aggravated by the bound volumes of the Japanese data being
cut up.
As
a result of this, some of the page were lost. Should a future similar
situation arise, the books should be microfilmed, and the microfilm
checked to see that no pages has been omitted before proceeding
to remove the binding of the book and cut it into sections.
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