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PRACTICAL EXERCISES
IN
ELEMENTARY METEOROLOGY
BY
ROBERT DECOURCY WARD
INSTRUCTOR IN CLIMATOLOGY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
BOSTON, U.S.A.
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
=The Athenæum Press=
1899
COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY
ROBERT DECOURCY WARD
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE.
The advance of meteorology as a school study has been much hampered by the
lack of a published outline of work in this subject which may be
undertaken during the school years. There are several excellent text-books
for more advanced study, but there is no laboratory manual for use in the
elementary portions of the science. In many secondary schools some
instruction in meteorology is given, and the keeping of meteorological
records by the scholars is every year becoming more general. There is yet,
however, but little system in this work, and, in consequence, there is
little definite result. The object of this book is to supply a guide in
the elementary observational and inductive studies in meteorology. This
Manual is not intended to replace the text-books, but is designed to
prepare the way for their more intelligent use. Simple preliminary
exercises in the taking of meteorological observations, and in the study
of the daily weather maps, as herein suggested, will lay a good foundation
on which later studies, in connection with the text-books, may be built
up. Explanations of the various facts discovered through these exercises
are not considered to lie within the scope of this book. They may be found
in any of the newer text-books.
This Manual lays little claim to originality. Its essential features are
based on the recommendations in the Report on Geography of the Committee
of Ten. A scheme of laboratory exercises, substantially the same as that
proposed in this Report, was, for some fifteen years, the basis of the
work in elementary meteorology done in Harvard College under the direction
of Professor William M. Davis. The plan proposed by the Committee of Ten
has been thoroughly tested by the writer during the past five years, not
only in college classes, but also in University Extension work among
school teachers, and the present book embodies such modifications of that
scheme and additions to it as have been suggested by experience. Emphasis
is laid throughout this Manual on the larger lessons to be learned from
the individual exercises, and on the relations of various atmospheric
phenomena to human life and activities. No attempt is made to specify in
exactly what school years this work should be undertaken. At present, and
until meteorology attains a recognized position as a school study,
teachers must obviously be left to decide this matter according to the
opportunities offered in each school. The general outline of the work,
however, as herein set forth, is intended to cover the grammar and the
high school years, and may readily be adapted by the teacher to fit the
circumstances of any particular case.
This book contains specific instructions to the student as to the use of
the instruments; the carrying out of meteorological observations; the
investigation of special simple problems by means of the instruments; and
the practical use of the daily weather maps. The Notes for the Teacher, at
the end of the book, are explanatory, and contain suggestions which may be
useful in directing the laboratory work of the class.
It has been the privilege of the author during the past ten years to study
the science of meteorology, and the methods of teaching that science,
under the constant direction of Professor William Morris Davis, of Harvard
University. To Professor Davis the author is further indebted for many
valuable suggestions in connection with the arrangement and treatment of
the subject-matter of this book. Thanks are due also to Mr. William H.
Snyder, of Worcester (Mass.) Academy, and to Mr. John W. Smith, Local
Forecast Official of the United States Weather Bureau, Boston, Mass., for
valued criticisms.
ROBERT DEC. WARD.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.,
September, 1899.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
THE IMPORTANCE OF METEOROLOGY: ITS RELATIONS TO MAN xi
PART I.——NON-INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS.
CHAPTER I.——OBSERVATIONS OF TEMPERATURE, WIND DIRECTION AND
VELOCITY, STATE OF SKY, AND RAINFALL 1
PART II.——INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS.
CHAPTER II.——ELEMENTARY INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS 11
CHAPTER III.——ADVANCED INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATIONS 26
PART III.——EXERCISES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WEATHER
MAPS.
CHAPTER IV.——THE DAILY WEATHER MAP 47
CHAPTER V.——TEMPERATURE 51
CHAPTER VI.——WINDS 70
CHAPTER VII.——PRESSURE 76
CHAPTER VIII.——WEATHER 85
PART IV.——THE CORRELATIONS OF THE WEATHER ELEMENTS
AND WEATHER FORECASTING.