and good intentions for the future. This brief report is along that line. The activities of this committee have been and will be chiefly directed along two lines: (1) To call the attention of teachers to those publications on Meteorology which are of particular value to them. This means the brief reviewing of some book which is primarily a text-book. It means calling attention to published syllabi and outlines of courses on Meteorology. It means calling attention to problems, laboratory exercises, topics for investigation, ingenious experiments and the like which may be used in the class room. It means calling attention to weather maps which illustrate particularly well some meteorological formation. (2) To develop, what for want of a better word, may be called propaganda in favor of courses in Meteorology and Climatology. It should be called to the attention of the head of every American college and university that courses (or at least a course) in Meteorology and Climatology are interesting, valuable, and desirable. This should be done often and with emphasis. Furthermore, when there is no department of Meteorology, it should be called to the attention of such closely related departments as Physics, Geology, Geography, or Astronomy that it would be most advantageous for some members of these departments to work up the subject and offer a course. It should be called to the attention of school superintendents that a sufficient amount of meteorology should be given in high schools in connection with physiography or physical geography. This means that the weather map should be displayed promptly in all schools and that Congress should provide a sufficient amount to enable the Weather Bureau to issue all the desired publications. It would be most helpful if every member of the American Meteorological Society would communicate to the committee anything along these lines which might come under his notice.-W. M. Wilson, Chairman, per W. I. Milham. The committees on Aeronautical Meteorology and on Commercial Meteorology held no meetings during the year, and their chairman had nothing to report. Some Actions By the Council The following matters which came before the Council at its Toronto meeting were mentioned at the Annual Meeting: Committees-Resignations of the following chairmen of their respective committees were placed before the Council: Messers. Horton (Corporation Membership only), Huntington, Marvin, Menoher, Tingley and Wilson. Pressure of other work was given as the reason for their resignations, except in the case of General Menoher, who has recently been relieved of the command of the Air Service and assigned to infantry duty in the Hawaiian Islands. Although General Menoher expressed continuation of his interest in meteorology, he thought it best in view of his change of position to resign from the Society. The resignations of the committee chairmen named were accepted except for Messrs. Huntington and Tingley, who, it seemed, were willing to continue, after having been urged by the Secretary to do so. Prof. W. I. Milham was appointed chairman of the Committee on Meteorological Instruction, to succeed Prof. Wilson, and Col. C. C. Culver was made chairman of the Committee on Aeronautical Meteorology. In view of the resignation of Mr. Horton as chairman of the Committee on Corporation Membership this committee was merged with the Committee on Membership. The resignation of Prof. Marvin as chairman of the Research Committee led the Council to take the opportunity to discharge this committee and merge its functions with the Committee on Public Information, changing the name of the latter to Committee on Information and Research. The name of the Committee on Hydrological Meteorology was changed to Engineering Meteorology and Hydrology. That on Commercial Meteorology was changed to Industrial and Commercial Meteorology. A committee consisting of Doctors Carroll E. Edson and Guy Hinsdale was appointed to cooperate with a committee of the American Climatological and Clinical Association. Meetings in 1922-Invitations from the Chamber of Commerce and Mayor of Buffalo to meet in that city some time during the year were presented and the Secretary was ordered to decline them with thanks, as it is the usual policy of the Society to meet with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with which it is affiliated, and to have its extra meeting, in April, at the Weather Bureau in Washington. As the Association is to meet in Boston a year hence it was decided that the Annual Meeting of the Society should be held there (during week of Dec. 26-30, 1922). The usual April meeting of the Society in Washington was approved. The Council looked with favor upon the possible meeting of the Society on the Pacific Coast during the summer, should the prospective Pacific division of the Society come into being. It was stated that applications for other meetings would be welcomed and given due consideration by the Council. Officers and Councilors Elected The tellers, Messrs. Connor and Stuart, reported the election of Sir Frederic Stupart as President of the Society during 1922, Dr. W. J. Humphreys as Vice-President, Dr. Charles F. Brooks as Secretary-Treasurer, and as Councilors, Mr. Edward Alden Beals and Prof. William Morris Davis. The present make up of the Council and of the various committees will be found on the inside of the cover of this issue. A report of the proceedings of the Toronto meeting, with abstracts of the papers and discussion, and with the texts of resolutions will be published in the February BULLETIN. FOR OBSERVERS AND FORECASTERS Local Weather Bureau Officials Widen Service The weather man has always been a fertile source of copy for the newspaper reporter. Recently, however, more effort has been put forth by many local officials of the U. S. Weather Bureau to supply information not only as to the current changes in the weather, but also regarding other phases of the Bureau's work; how it is done, what services it has for different interests, and the progress of weather studies being made by many of the Weather Bureau's meteorologists. The Buchanan County (Mo.) Farm Bureau News has a "Weather Department" conducted by W. S. Belden, meteorologist in charge of the St. Joseph station of the Weather Bureau. For example, three issues contain articles on weather forecasting, July rainfall, cold wave of November 11, 1920, warnings, Indian summer, snow, standard rain-gage, precipitation. Readers are invited to write to the paper such questions on meteorology as they would like to have answered. This is but one example of a helpful activity carried on at a great many stations. "Motorists' climatology of California for the month of November," is the title of an article featured in the Daily Record, Stockton, Cal., (Oct. 30, 1920). H. J. Andree, U. S. Weather Bureau Observer, Red Bluff, Cal., has in this contribution summarized the usual snow conditions, average, highest and lowest temperatures, rainy days and average rainfall for thirty stations in California and five others in adjoining states. Another table for the eight regular Weather Bureau stations of the state shows the number of days clear, partly cloudy and cloudy, the average percent of possible sunshine and the average relative humidity at 5 A. M. and 5 P. M. Prevailing directions and average velocities of the wind are also presented. The Clark University Radio Station has been officially designated as a broadcasting station of the U. S. W. B. Reports will be sent out twice a day by radiofone on schedule to be announced later. Wave-length 250, later 480, meters. Range on radiofone 300 miles. Call 1XZ. Catches of Different Rain-Gauges The Central Office of the Weather Bureau occasionally receives requests for information concerning the relative merits of rain-gauges of different sizes and patterns, and for other data, not generally accessible, relating to the measurement of precipitation. A paper in which some of these questions are discussed in detail will appear at an early date. In advance, however, it may be stated (1) that there appears to be no difference in the "catch" of gauges of approved design and workmanship differing several hundred per cent in area; and (2), that the deficient catch of some small gauges is due to mechanical difficulties of measurement, or to defects of design, the most common of which are shallow funnels, that cause loss by out-splashing.-S. P. Fergusson. Photographing Snowflakes "During the many years that he has devoted to this particular work, Mr. W. A. Bentley of Jericho, Vt., has made 3,800 photo-micrographs of snowflakes and has found no two of them alike. As a result of his exhaustive study he firmly believes that the snowflake is the most exquisite example of nature's art. "Snow crystals are remarkable in many ways for quantity, distribution, origin, and all the important parts they play in nature's plan. Although built usually according to the rule of six, every crystal grows in kaleidoscopic fashion from start to finish, and almost every moment in cloudland sees them changing form. They are perhaps the most varied and exquisite examples of nature's art. "These ever varying outgrowths while uniting to the parent crystal ofttimes do so imperfectly or in such a manner as to bridge over and imprison minute quantities of air, forming tiny air tubes within them, or diffuse shadings, which outline more or less perfectly the transitory shapes. These present the appearance of lines, dots, and fairy-like geometrical figures in endless variety, and give exquisite beauty, richness and complexity to their interiors."-Scientific American, March 26, 1921, p. 253. Other parts of this note tell how the photographs are made. NOTE ON WEATHER BUREAU PUBLICATIONS After their suspension on December 1, 1921, by act of Congress the two Weather Bureau publications, the National Weather and Crop Bulletin and the Monthly Weather Review have started again. The National Weather and Crop Bulletin, however, was changed on January 1st as follows: The Snow and Ice Bulletin was separated from it and the weather and crop parts were combined with the Crop Reporter and Market Reporter, issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The combination is called Weather, Crops and Markets. The first issue of the new publication was that for January 7, 1922. In it there are devoted some five pages (including maps) on weather and its effects upon crops, about the same amount as in the National Weather and Crop Bulletin.. Monthly Weather Review The publication of synopses of contents of the Monthly Weather Review has been discontinued in the BULLETIN because of lack of space and a reduction in price of the Review whcih makes it readily available to all members of the Society. The Monthly Weather Review may now be had for 15c a copy or $1.50 a year on application to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. The former price of $2.50 a year was considered too much to cover the cost of paper and press-work. All the cost of editorial work, typesetting, etc., is borne by the U. S. Weather Bureau. Contributing and sustaining members of the Society will continue to receive the Review without any special action on their part. THE SEASONAL RAINFALL FOR 1921-22 INDICATIONS BASED ON OCEAN TEMPERATURES As explained in Bulletin No. 7 of the Scripps Institution, there appears to be a possibility of determining from summer ocean temperatures the coming seasonal rainfall in Southern California. In the present paper the observations are brought up to date, and presented in tabular form, in order to show empirically the applicability of the temperature-rainfall relation during the last five-year period, and to provide a basis for inferring the probable rainfall for the coming season. It is the intention to publish next year a more detailed paper dealing with all of the available ocean observations, and a tentative hypothesis which has been formulated to account for the above relation. Regarding the rainfall at the three stations, Bonita, San Diego and Escondido, as representative of San Diego County, the separate seasonal rainfalls are averaged. Similarly the average for the three stations, Tustin, Corona, and Los Angeles is assumed to be representative for the northern part of Southern California. Finally, the average of all six stations is regarded as representative for the general coastal region of Southern California. Ocean Temperatures and Seasonal Rainfall Seasonal Rainfall at each of the groups of stations following the period to which the summer temperatures correspond Mean of the Six Stations Observed. Compt. Departures. Rainfall. Departures from the Five year Mean. 1916 66.4 12.8 13.0 12.9 -1.4 2.1 1.4 1.4 1.8 1.8 1.6 Departures. Rainfall. Departures from the Five year Mean. Departures. |