traffic congestion that follows a swift and heavy snowstorm. Weather again!
Yes, the state of weather has a hand in making or marring many human activities, ranging from crop raising to transportation.
The establishment of weather bureaus began with the “Crimean Storm” of 1854. Sweeping across the Black Sea, it sank many ships at Balaklava, which carried food and necessities for the besiegers of Sebastopol, during the bitter winter.
The loss of the French Warship Henry IV in this disaster led the astronomer Leverrier, Director of the National Observatory at Paris, to trace the course of the storm across Europe from west to east. The outcome of this study was the establishment by the French Government of the first system of weather reporting. From it ultimately developed the service of storm warning and weather forecasting that now exists throughout the world.
Since then, the science of applied meteorology has steadily progressed—with aviation presenting its newest problem. In this clearly developing period it seems to me women might well be interesting themselves in becoming meteorologists, work interesting in itself and an opportunity to become acquainted with aviation. So far as I can find out, there are very very few who are preparing to do so.
“Is there any reason why women cannot be ‘weather men’?” I asked the head of one of the large weather bureau offices not long ago.
“Well, no,” he said, “except that they would
