Word: weather
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Majors is one said," the pamphlet continues, "have been able to speak together in their own particular jargon, but beyond the weather six, and athletic and social topics, the class as a whole has been without a community of intellectual interest or purpose...
Tornadoes are notoriously unpredictable. It is impossible to tell, just by looking, whether a tall black cloud will merely drop a shower, or whether it will lash out with a twister. Last week the U.S. Weather Bureau was on the trail of a promising way of telling in advance which of the tall black clouds are apt to be pregnant with tornadoes...
...wave, which meteorologists call the "jump-line.'' is not dangerous, but the Weather Bureau has found that it is apt to set off the violent thunderstorms that lash the earth with twisters. In one study, 82% of the tornadoes struck within an hour of a pressure jump...
After satisfying itself on the close relationship between jump-lines and tornadoes, the Weather Bureau (though chronically starved for funds) is now trying to make use of its new knowledge. It has designed a simple instrument that ignores ordinary changes of pressure, but rings a bell when a jump-line passes over...
...Weather Bureau thinks that its jump-line detectors can be made in quantity for less than $100 each. Spotted through tornado areas in police stations and other always-open institutions, they should enable the weathermen to keep track of each jump-line as it moves crosscountry. Since the average speed of the tornado-triggering wave is only about about 35 m.p.h., the weatherman should have time to give plenty of warning...