A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 153
Before FitzRoy began his weather
reporting systems, mariners had
already observed that winds form
cyclonic patterns in hurricanes, and
that wind direction could be used to
predict the storm’s path.mariner Francis Beaufort, who
created a standard scale showing
the wind speed or “force” linked to
particular conditions at sea, and
later on land. This allowed the
severity of storms to be recorded
and compared methodically for
the first time. The scale ranged
from 1, indicating “light air” to
12, “hurricane.” The first time the
Beaufort scale was used was by
FitzRoy on the Beagle voyage.
Thereafter it became standard
in all naval ships’ logs.
Another naval weather pioneer
was American Matthew Maury.
He created wind and current
charts for the North Atlantic,
which resulted in dramatic
improvements for sailing times
and certainty. He also advocated
the creation of an international
sea and land weather service,
and led a conference in Brussels
in 1853 that began to coordinate
observations on conditions at
sea from all around the world.
The Meteorogical Office
In 1854, FitzRoy, encouraged by
Beaufort, was given the task of
setting up the British contribution
at the Meteorological Office.
But with characteristic zeal and
insight, FitzRoy went much further
than his brief. He began to see
that a system of simultaneous
weather observations from around
the world could not only reveal
hitherto undiscovered patterns,
but actually be used to make
weather predictions.
Observers already knew that
in tropical hurricanes, for example,
the winds blow in a circular
or “cyclonic” pattern around a
central area of low air pressure or
“depression.” It was soon realized ❯❯See also: Robert Boyle 46–49 ■ George Hadley 80 ■ Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis 126 ■ Charles Darwin 142–49
From the
snapshot,
meteorologists
can forecast the
weather.The weather comes in
repeated patterns.The development of each
pattern is indicated by
signs such as air pressure,
wind direction, and
cloud type.Observations from
multiple locations
provide a “snapshot” of
weather patterns over a
wide area.Since patterns are
repeated, their future
progress can be predicted.