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140 the storm moved a little west of north, or from Virginia to the west-~ ern portion of the province of On- tario. This movement, which was not wholly unexpected, led to the preci- pitation of heavy snow over the great lakes and the Ohio valley, which must have set in over Lakes Huron and Erie early Sunday morning. The im- mediate effect of the snow storm was to obscure from vision all land marks, buoys, range lights,, and other aids to safe navigation, and with the ob- struction of vision by the snow the wind began to increase in strength and blow strongly from the north and northwest. The moment the snow be- gan the condition of the vessels afloat on the great lakes began to grow desperate. In a blinding snowstorm, the wind increasing, and the barome- ter falling, they were completely at the mercy of the wind and _ water. Wireless advices as to the severity of the storm, even if they could have been obtained, would not have aided them in their plight. The time for saving action had passed. Had the storm broken over -them in the day- time there was still a chance of mak- ing a safe harbor, but in the darkness of the night, made the more intense by the heavy clouds, the hope of mak- ing a safe harbor must have quickly vanished. Advices by wireless would not have aided in the slightest, for at best the only advice that could have been communicated was the fact that - the storm had increased greatly in violence and that snow would con- tinue for 24 hours or longer, and that information would not have been time- ly, since the storm was upon them Sun- day morning, although it is. believed that it did not reach its full violence until Sunday afternoon or night. All day Sunday, all through Sunday Hient,- antl for,.the greater -part. of Monday, the snow and wind storm continued unabated. The center of the storm on Sunday night was over western Ontario, in the vicinity of Buffalo, where the barometric pres- sure had fallen to 28.76 inches. During the next 12 hours it scarcely altered its position, but by Tuesday morning the worst was over and the storm had begun to dissipate over the lower St. Lawrence valley. Below are the maximum wind velo- cities of Sunday and Monday, in miles per hour: Sunday, Nov. 9. Lake Superior--Marquette, 34 north- west; Sault Ste. Marie, 36 north. Lake Michigan--Escanaba, 36 north; ' Green Bay, 38 northwest; Chicago, 44 -northwest; Grand Haven, 48 north- west. THE MARINE REVIEW Lake Huron--Port Huron, 62 north; Alpena, 42 north; Detroit, 48 north- west. Lake Erie--Toledo, 44 northwest; Cleveland, 60 northwest; Sandusky, 36 northwest. Lake Ontario--Oswego, 36 south. Monday, Nov. 10 Lake Superior--Duluth, 34° north- west; Houghton, 30 northwest; Mar- quette, 48 northwest; Sault Ste. Marie, 36 northwest.. Lake Michigan--Escanaba, 32 north; Green Bay, 40 northwest; Milwaukee, 38 northwest; Grand Haven, 56 north- west; Ludington, 48 north. Lake Huron--Alpena, 48 northwest; Saginaw, 43 northwest; Detroit, 52 northwest. Lake Erie--Toledo, 52 west; Cleve- land, 60. west; Erie, 36 southwest; Buffalo, 74 west. -- Lake Ontario--Oswego, 38 south- west. So much for the story of the storm. Replying to Adverse Criticism Much adverse criticism has been aimed at the Weather Bureau on ac- count of its warning service,--stress being laid on the point that the bur- eau did not clearly indicate the inten- sity of the storm. We had supposed that after a service of 30 odd years in forecasting storms for the lake re- gion, that people of that part of the country were familiar with the fact that the weather service makes no pretensions of ability to forecast the intensity of natural phenomena. While it 4sable to forecast.'rain,". it. has never attempted to distinguish be- tween "light" rain and "heavy" rain. So with storms, it is possible to fore- cast the occurrence of a storm in gen- eral terms, but whether the storm winds will blow 20 miles an hour or 60 miles an hour at any specific point it is impossible to state with that de- gree of accurancy that would be nec- essary in order to make the statement of practical use. It is true that in subtropical waters it is customary to display what is known as the "hurricane" 'signal to announce the expected approach of one of those storms. The display of that flag is, however, never made un- less the circumstances fully justify it. In answer.to those critics who have made the claim that hurricane fiags should have been displayed on the great lakes for the recent storm, we would point out that at no time was the lake region threatened with a. West India hurricane, that the storm which actually occurred bore not the slightest resemblance to a West India hurricane. In the first April, 1914 place the wind did not approach hur- ricane force, and in the second place it was the combination of snow with fairly high winds: that undoubtedly caused so many vessels to founder. On many occasions in the past, as at Cleveland during the 18 years, 1892-1909, there were 31 storms with winds as great or greater than those experienced on Nov. 9 and 10, 1913. Warnings for the great lakes are limited to two classes, viz.: the smal{ craft, and the storm warning; the former is defined as a warning of moderately strong winds that will in- terfere with the safe operation of small craft, such as those engaged in fishing, towing, motor boating and yachting. It is used principally in the summer season. The small craft warnings are intended to cover winds that are not strong enough to incon- venience sea-going vessels. The storm warning--a red flag with a black center--is intended to convey to vessel masters and others the infor- - mation that a condition for winds dan- gerous to navigation is present, and that such winds may be expected within the next 24 hours. Omniscience Not Claimed The bureau does not claim omnisci- ence, and cannot, therefore, guaran- tee the appearance of the expected winds in all cases; the actual winds may either fall short of. or exceed in strength the limit of the winds fore- cast, and probably nobody realizes that fact more than the forecaster who issues the warnings. On _ the average about 80 per cent of storm warnings are verified, the great ma- jority of failures being chargeable to storms forecast which do not ma- terialize. Very rarely does a severe storm descend on the great lakes without warning. A vessel with cargo and a complete crew aboard, cannot afford to lay in port. except at an expense to the owner, hence the very natural desire of the skipper to get under way. The storm flag has failed before, perhaps it will fail this time, and thus reflect- ing on the fallibility of mankind, es- pecially a weather forecaster, the skip- per gets under way. He comes safely to port and let us suppose receives the commendation of his employer. Thus by easy stages, and possibly by a repetition of this experience, the precepts of the storm flag come to be disregarded--not by all skippers--but by some who possibly prefer to place their reliance upon the staunchness of their vessel rather than the advices of the weather service. The remedy for this state of affairs be a gage bi alc ena i ai a ale ihe