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Developing Storm W arnings on the Great Lakes BY GEORGE A. MARR our offices and plants and in every phase of our daily lives, as we are today, by a multipilicity of conveniences and utilities, we are prone to accept these aids and com- forts as matters of course and look upon them with blase indifference. The weather bureau was established by act of congress in 1890 supersed- ing a similar service inaugurated 20 years before by the war department under a joint resolution of congress becoming effective July 1, 1871. Under this joint resolution of con- gress, the secretary of war was charged with the duties of taking me- teorological observations and giving notice on the seacoasts and on the northern lakes by ‘magnetic tele- graph and marine signals of the ap- proach and force of storms.” The sec- retary of war was also authorized to establish signal stations at light- houses and at such of the life saving stations on the Lakes or seacoast as were suitably located for the purpose. Lake commerce has therefore enjoyed for 60 years a storm warning service under the direction of either the war department or the present organiza- tion in the department of agriculture. That the storm warning service was undertaken by the government pri- marily for the benefit of navigation is evident from the provision of the joint resolution of 1870 which author- ized the establishment of marine sig- nal stations, and also from the act of 1891 in which the duties of the weather bureau are enumerated in the following order: (a) Forecasting the weather; (b) Issuance of storm warnings; (c) Display of signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce and navigation. Then follows the enumeration of a half-dozen other du- ties but the giving of warnings to commerce and navigation was the prime purpose of the government. The means of communicating warn- ings to the vessels at the present time are: (1) The display of flag and lan- tern signals at land stations; (2) the radio telegraph broadcast; and (3) broadcasts from radio telephone broadcasting stations. The distribution of storm informa- tion by the display of flags by day So oes in our homes, in The accompanying article is an ab- ‘Stract of a paper read by George A. Marr, vice president and secretary of the Lake Carriers association, before the American Meteorological society which held its annual meeting in Cleve- land, Dec. 29-30, 1930. and lanterns by night is the primitive means of conveying the intelligence to ships’ masters, and yet, in spite of the progress made by radio, these flag and lantern signals stand today as necessary to the safety of naviga- tion as when they were inaugurated 60 years ago, and any thought of their discontinuance must be abandoned, or at least deferred indefinitely. There are 115 such stations on the Great Lakes, 82 of which are main- tained by our government and 33 by ‘the Dominion of Canada. These are located at strategic points in the va- rious harbors or at conspicuous places on the banks of the connecting rivers where vessel officers about to leave shelter may, seeing the warning, come to anchor until danger is past. The Act of June 24, 1910, amended by the Act of July 23, 1912 makes it unlawful for any steamer of the Unit- ed States or of a foreign country navi- gating the ocean or Great Lakes and licensed to carry or carrying 50 or more persons including crew to leave a port of the United States without radio apparatus of 100 miles radius, excepting as to vessels plying between ports not over 200 miles apart. Under the provisions of this act none of the lake freight vessels is re- quired to be equipped and only a few of the passenger ships. The lake ves- sels, however, have been equipped to the extent of 224 out of the 581 American vessels and 84 of the 294 ships of Canadian registry, leaving be- tween five and six hundred vessels that are not equipped to receive ad- vices by wireless telegraph. For communicating storm warnings to these radio telegraph equipped ves- sels broadcasts are sent out at stated hours daily over the entire Great Lakes area. These broadcasts are sent in code from wireless telegraph sta- tions at Duluth, Great Lakes, Chica- go, Mackinac Island, Rogers City, Al- pena, Cleveland and Buffalo, giving information as to both prevailing and expected weather conditions, and warnings of storms. A deeply appreciated and highly commended additional service was established last year (1929) in an ar- rangement made through the weather bureau office at Duluth and the Radio Corporation of America _ radiotele- graph station in that port. Under this arrangement, reports are sent to Du- luth from vessels on the open lake giving details of weather conditions prevailing in the vicinity of these MARINE REvIEw—February, 1931 vessels. This information is trans- mitted to vessels in port at Duluth and Superior where weather condi- tions are often of marked difference in character from those prevalent on the lake. Not infrequently masters, warned of severe weather on Lake Superior and of which there was no indication in port, remained in shel- ter until reporting vessels gave in- dication of moderation. So grateful- ly was this information received by masters that a similar arrangement was made during the season just closed to inform masters at Sault Ste Marie of the weather conditions on . the east end of Lake Superior and: the north end of Lake Huron. As previously stated, the lake ships have been equipped far beyond the requirements of law, but the major portion of the commercial fleets of ° both United States and Canada is’ still dependent upon the flag and lan- tern displays. In addition to these unequipped vessels of the larger classes engaged in interlake trade there are numerous small craft, such as fishing vessels and yachts to which the flag and lantern displays are the only available warnings of threatened ~ storm. I have no hesitancy, therefore, in stating that no thought should be given at the present time to the with- drawal or material contraction of the primitive system of flag and lantern displays. On the contrary, if this. service can be expanded to greater usefulness in the saving of life and property the study of the weather bureau should be directed to that end. For instance, these signals show mere- ly that a storm may be expected from a certain point of the compass. If a simple revision of the code could be arranged to show the anticipated force of the expected storm, the ad- ditional information would be valua- ble. I make the further suggestion that the weather bureau might render an added service by the forecasting of fluctuations in the lake levels, partic- ularly in the vicinity of the shoal places governing the loading depths of the vessels. A number of years ago Frank Jermin, the meteorologist of the weather bureau at Alpena, Mich., made an extensive study of ‘the ,ef- fects of barometric pressure on the lake levels and the currents created by the transit of the high and low: pressure areas from one part of a lake to another. The merits of Mr. Jermin’s deductions I am not com- petent to discuss intelligently, but I have a distinct recollection that Mr. Jermin said that these water level fluctuations could be forecast with reasonable accuracy about six hours in advance of their occurrence. If this be true, may I not recommend to my weather bureau friends that consideration be given to the issuance of advance information with refer- ence to these fluctuations? 37