Brooks Finds Weather Bureau's Forecasting Facilities Inadequate

The Weather Bureau's failure to give an adequate warning of the March 17 blizzard was due to its complete lack of reports on Atlantic air conditions, according to Charles F. Brooks '12, professor of Meteorology and director of the Blue Hill Observatory. The University meteorologist cited "the lack of upper air reports and inadequate knowledge as to how to interpret them," as a major source of difficulty.

He placed part of the blame for this failure on the Bureau's abandoning of the weather ship "Hotel" two years ago. Reports from this ship midway between New York and Bermuda would have informed forecasters of the shift in direction of the storm. During the critical period, there were no upper air reports at all west of a line from Nova Scotia to Bermuda, and surface reports were also inadequate.

Restoring the weather ship would cost an estimated $2 to 3 million, but is the least expensive way of "providing the frequent and complete surface and upper air data" necessary to discover trends in storm speeds, tracks, and intensities, he said.

Although some meteorologists have considered the cost of restoring "Hotel" prohibitive, Brooks did not feel that the amount is too much to pay for such a "significant improvement in storm forecasting."

Unfortunately, however, the bureau's present budget is "quite inadequate" to cover all the needs of weather reporting. Brooks suggested that Congress vote "at least" the budget asked for this year. This budget provides $30,804,600 for general weather services, $1,745,400 for administration, $2,500,000 for meteorological facilities, and $2,952,000 for research. Although the budget was substantially increased last year, this year only research was augmented.