VALUE OF THE SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20898, 30 November 1937, Page 8

VALUE OF THE SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY

As a science meteorology has taken a prominent place within the last decade, and has made steady progress alongside the development of the telegraph, wireless and the aeroplane. The present conference in Wellington therefore, has considerable significance for New Zealand, and because it was convened partly in view of future air services to this country, the international discussions on meteorology indicate how one development can promote another. For instance, it would almost seem that because New Zealand is to have the advantage of overseas air services, one benefit received will be better meteorological reports. It cannot be said of course, that the Dominion has neglected the science of weather forecasting; reports on probable weather conditions have been issued for many years. As far as the conference is concerned however, it is also indicative of the fact that meteorological data to be of value, requires international co-operation for its collection. Meteorology cannot go down as a new subject, as the weather has occupied men’s minds from a remote antiquity, and if modern science ultimately removes guesswork, a valuable topic for conversation will be lost. Perhaps Aristotle was the first investigator to collect any facts about climatic changes, but very little progress was made until instruments were invented, and when Torricelli discovered in 1643, that the atmosphere had weight, meteorology was really raised to the status of a science. That made the barometer possible, and then Fahrenheit deserved considerable credit for making the thermometer a practical instrument. A further epoch in meteorology is marked by the publication of essays by Dalton in 1793, as he used scientific principles to explain atmospheric phenomena, and pointed out that vapour was an independent elastic fluid. From that time onwards, various scientists added the ! results of their investigations to the study of a most interesting subject. But, the science has made the greatest progress in recent years, not only because its efficiency was demanded by faster means of travel, but because instruments have improved, and the rapidity of communication has made it possible to centralise detailed reports from wide areas. As a result, the official “weather prophets” of to-day, pay no attention to rheumatism in the right or left leg, or an aching corn, but issue their forecasts on up-to-date detailed facts drawn from many sources; in some cases, a report from the North Pole might influence their calculations. It is because as the development of meteorology goes forward, weather forecasts will probably be weeks and months instead of days ahead, that the conference of official meteorologists now assembled in Wellington should yield important results.