Word: weathered
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...surprise his runners while they are all bending down to tie shoelaces. The pudgy little starter at Le Tremblay last week was one of the best. Casually, as great globules of water dripped from his mustache, he engaged the girls in a long, rambling conversation about the weather...
...Columbus had sailed due west, the "prevailing westerlies" of the North Atlantic might have battered his caravels back to Europe. But by luck, sailor's hunch, or a simple desire to sail in warm weather, he detoured south to the Canary Islands, picked up favorable winds. Since then, transatlantic sailing ships have used the Columbus system, often sweeping miles out of their straight-line courses to take advantage of friendly winds...
...steamships, the winds are nothing but a nuisance. Steamers go out of their way to dodge a hurricane, but in normal weather they stick to a "great-circle course"-the shortest path between two points on the earth's curving surface. But ocean-flying airplanes made the winds important again. Last week the PICAO (Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization), which provides planes with valuable weather information, was planning ways to standardize its service internationally. The idea is to help pilots of all countries and languages make the winds work in their favor...
...Look Ahead. The answer is "pressure pattern flying." Certain winds are pretty likely to be associated with certain weather conditions. An area of low pressure in the northern hemisphere, for instance, is surrounded by winds blowing counterclockwise (see map). Around high-pressure areas, the wind blows clockwise. If the pilot knows which he is approaching, a low-pressure or high-pressure area, he can set his course to take advantage of the most favorable winds...
...needs to know the barometric pressure throughout the flight. His ordinary altimeter (essentially an aneroid barometer) is not enough, for its readings vary with pressure changes due to either altitude or weather. The problem is solved by the radio altimeter, which measures the plane's altitude electronically. Its readings, combined with barometric altimeter readings, give the actual pressure of the air through which the plane is flying...