WEATHER FORECASTING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 17

WEATHER FORECASTING

Weather forecasts were long regarded as a subject for quacks, and the compilers of those old-time “almanacs” that were remarkable for the range rather than the reliability of their information, notes the “Manchester Guardian.” Only in 1861, when Admiral Fitzroy began to issue forecasts based on weather information collected for Ihe Board of Trade from various British ports, was anything in the way of official predictions issued, and when the daring admiral died a year or two later the announcements lapsed till 1879. Now we know that the first condition of accurate weather forecasting lies in the collation of the greatest possible number of reports from individual stations all over the world, and the accuracy of the predictions has risen steadily as more and more countries have increased their reports and arranged for the pooling of the information received.

Sir Hubert Wilkins has suggested that the countries of the Southern Hemisphere should collaborate to establish at least 12 weather stations in the Antarctic. There are already about 30 in the Arctic regions, and Sir Hubert’s view is that after a sufficient amount of data had been collected from the opposite end of the earth a system of long-range weather predictions that would be of great, value to farmers and others would be within the reach of man’s contriving. The pooling of meteorological knowledge is one of the few branches of international co-operation that have prospered in the last 20 years. If the world remains sane enough to extend the system to the Antarctic another essentially civilized advance will have been made.