12
MA ft TRIBUNE, Medford, Or.
Sunday, Jan. 17, 1960
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UNIT INSTALLED An automatic tracking
antenna for weather balloons released twice
daily by the U.S. weather bureau, Medford,
was installed recently, eliminating manual
method of keeping "zeroed in" on balloon's
position. Before, the balloon would some
times be blown out of range by high winds
before effective altitude could be reached.
The crane above is lifting off the fiberglass
dome so the old antenna (on top of tower)
can be removed and replaced by the large
"dish"' antenna sitting on the . ground below.
Actuating mount is still covered with paper
at left
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TRACKER'S "BRAINS" The instrument chanism that controls the automatic weather
unit being held by Electronic Technician balloon tracking device recently installed
D. T. Wiley, above, is the "thinking" me- here by the U.S. weather bureau.
lew.
is
41
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ANTENNA BASE The 12-foot dish-shaped keep the antenna "on target." Tightening
antenna that follows the weather balloons a mounting bolt, above, is R. A. Halver
in their flight into the upper air, swings son, supervising electronics technician for
and tilts automatically, actuated by radio the U.S. weather bureau, region 4, Salt Lake
i'ulses emitted from the balloons instru- City, who was here to help with the instal
ment pack Electric motors drive gears that lation. - -
New Equipment at
Medford Station
Installed Recently
Br BOB VROMAN
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
Ever since the shaggy cave
man sniffed the air, looked at
the black clouds on the hori
zon and decided against wash
ing the family dinosaur, man
has been trying to outguess
the weather.
Through history, various
systems, from "signs" in the
sky to the actions of birds
and animals and aching joints
have been used to foretell
what Mother Nature is going
to pull on us next.
But you don't hear Bob
Church, head meteorologist at
the U.S. Weather bureau,
Medford, saying "red in the
morning, sailors take warn
ing," or see him watching for
a ring around the moon.
Weather forecasting has
come a long way. in the last
decade or so and sensitive
electronic instruments, along
with advanced technical
know-how, has taken a good
share of the guesswork out of
predicting the kind of weath
er, that's coming our way.
Weather Man 'Ribbed'
Humorists have long
"ribbed" the weathermen for
their apparent lack of accu
racy in these predictions and
people even now wonder why
it's still coming down when
the weatherman says "it ain't
gonna rain no more."
According to Church, me
teorology is not an "exact"
science, and men can only do
what they can with what they
have to work with in predict
ing what this ever-moving en
velope of gas in which we live
is going to do.
Unlike a baseball in flight,
which has a definite inertia
and direction, a storm goes
in circles, up, down and side
ways, and to anticipate these
movements is sometimes next
to impossible.
Often a full-blown storm
will lose its identity when it
passes over the coastal range,
which sops all the moisture
out of it, leaving only a few
gusts of wind and a sprinkle
ot rain for the valley.
Multitude of Variances
'Here in mountainous south
ern Oregon particularly,
when a major storm front is
upon us, there will be precipi
tation in some areas and not
in others, due to a multitude
of variances.
Church admits that they
"miss" once in a while, but
it is largely because of the
whims of nature, not because
the men at the station don't
know their jobs.
The U.S. weather bureau
at Medford airport, like hun
dreds of others in the United
States, is now entering a new
phase - that of automation,
where precision instruments
and automatic computing de
vices will provide answers
more rapidly and more accu
rately than was ever possible
before.
At the Medford station sev
eral pieces of new equipment
have already been added that
are part of the bureau's over
all modernization program.
Tracking Device
One of these is a complete
ly automatic tracking . device
for the weather balloons that
are released here twice daily.
The sensitive unit "zeroes in"
on the balloon in flight and
shows on dials and charts the
balloon's altitude, azimuth
(compass direction) and speed
of travel, in addition to pick
ing up signals that tell upper
air temperature and moisture
content.
It is many times more sen
sitive than the man-operated
system in use before and ex
tends the range of the weath
er balloon's usefulness to far
beyond the point where an
operator would lose the sig
nal. Before, in a high wind
when the information was
needed even worse than at
other times, the balloon
would be out of range before
it reached the necessary alti
tude. Kow, under the same
conditions, the balloon can
supply information for even
the highest-flying jets.
Located in Dome
The tracking device, locat
ed in the dome of the large
tower west of the bureau of
fice, consists of a 12-foot
"dishpan" antenna, radio re
ceiving equipment and the an
tenna actuating unit. Data re
corders are located in the bu
reau office.
Every day at 3 a.m. and
3 p.m. a b'alloon, with its in
strument packet, is sent aloft
to get the temperature, hu
midity, - wind direction and
speed that will be used in
compiling weather maps and
charts throughout the world.
After analysis, the data are
used to disclose an impend
ing local, storm or help pre-,
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NEW EQUIPMENT The unit, above, a wind instrument
tower, was recently installed on the runway area at the
Medford airport as part of the current modernization pro
gram being carried out by the U.S. weather bureau. The
wind vane and velocity measuring device sends information
via 3,000 feet of cable to the weather bureau office. Remote
temperature and humidity elements will soon be installed
nearby.
'''' ' 1 "
RECORDING UNITS Musical notes , emitted from the
radios of high-soaring weather balloons are converted to
visible form by the machines shown above. It is then only
a matter of calculation to determine temperature, humidity,
pressure-height and wind direction and velocity of upper
air. in tune, even these caluclations will be done automatical
iy.
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READS THERMOMETERS Bob Church; above, head mete
ologist at the Medford weatlier bureau station, takes the wet
and dry bulb thermometer readings to determine dew point
and humidity, part of the information needed in determining
forthcoming weather condition.
diet the expected low tem
perature in the valley.
Apother new unit, installed
here several months ago, is a
remote wind instrument tow
er located on the airport run
way area, away from build
ings that could cause air tur
bulence and thus give untrue
readings.
A wind vane and velocity
gauge located on the tower,
send electrical impulses to
dials inside the bureau office
over approximately 3,000 feet
of 32-conductor cable. The set
up results in more accurate
readings of runway wind con
ditions and adds an extra
margin of safety for planes
using the Medford airport.
Other units that will be
added at the Medford station
in the not-too-distant future
will be a visibility indicator
(transmissomter) and remote
reading thermometers, both
of which will be located near
the end of the runway instead
of near the airport buildings.
The visibility indicator will
consist of an "electric eye"
looking into a focused light
source about 500 feet away;
this will show the density of
the fog or haze by measuring
the amount of light getting
from one unit to the other.
Completely Modernized
Add the new installations
to the equipment already in
use and one will realize that
the Medford station is one of
the better-equipped first-order
weather bureau opera
tions in the United States,
and is completely modernized
as far as upper air analyzing
devices are concerned.
The cloud-height indicator,
or ceilometer, which has been
in use here for some time, is
in itself a mechanical wonder.
Inside : a small dome-shaped
"dog house" near the bureau
office is a telescope on a qua
drant that constantly scans a
vertical beam of light from
the ground to a point nearly
straight up. '.
Inside the office, the height
oi me overcast, u any, is re
corded by squiggles of red ink
on a graph. The beam of light,
representing some 3 million
candlepower, comes from a
bulb no bigger than the stub
of a pencil, which is cooled
by jets of air from a compres
sor.
Although it takes a good
deal of money to equip and
operate a weather bureau sta
tion, it is worth it in dollars
alone, to say nothing of the
human lives involved, if one
airplane is kept from crash
ing, one ship is saved from be
ing wrecked or if flood dan
gers can be anticipated.
Other services of the weath
er bureau include that of
working with Civil Defense
in the detection of radio-ac
tive tauout, several geiger
counters being part of the
equipment ; at the Medford
station.
People call the weather
bureau to find out when to
pour concrete, how road con
ditions are ana whether or
not to plan a picnic. One wo
man wanted to know if there
were to be thunder storms
during the day so she would
know whether or not to give
her nervous dog a tranquiliz
er pill before she went to
work.
The weather bureau is In
constant, contact with other
stations and regular reports
are sent and received by tele
type machines in the Medford
office.
Ships at sea and weather
stations all over the world
form the network that aids
in the compiling of a global
weather picture.
Perhaps someday a television-equipped
satellite will
circle the earth and serve as
a further aid to weather fore
casting, but it will never re
place the ground stations or
the technicians that under
stand and operate the sensi
tive instruments.
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BALLOON READIED Getting set to release the 3 pjn.
weather balloon, above, are, left, Meteorologist Stan Lacy
and Meteorologist Technician Ralph Cutshall of the U.S.
weather bureau, Medford. At Lacy's side is the instrument
packet that is suspended from the balloon itself by 100 feet
of cord. New- tracking device picks up balloon's position as
soon as it gets above tower and "locks" on its radio signaL
Firemen Called to
Two Blazes Saturday
The Medford fire depart
ment was called to two fires
Saturday morning.
The first occurred in the
parking lot at the East Side
Big Y market when trash in
a City Sanitary Service truck
caught fire. No damage oc
curred, firemen said.
A clogged flue at the Ron
ald Lehnan home, 3345 Bel
linger lane resulted in an at
tic fire Saturday morning,
firemen said. Flames spread
to the wall and burned two
beams which supported the
center wall.
BRIGHT LIGHT The small unit that looks like a kettl
drum on a post, at right above, is a 3 million candlepower
spot light, which creates the beam used in measuring cloud
height by the Medford weather bureau. A scanning device
picks up the "fattened" image where the beam strikes the
clouds and transmits it to a graph in the weather bureau
office. . -.
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