NEW YORK: The Wind & the Public

In 45 years as a weatherman—five of them as chief meteorologist for the city of New York—Benjamin Parry has seen vast improvements in weather predictions and weather service. The Weather Bureau (which once closed up shop every night at 10) now gives 24-hour service, predicts minimum & maximum temperatures, wind velocities, and types and volume of precipitation.

Its telephone switchboard answers 50,000 calls every 24 hours, with recorded weather information. It operates a teletype system which supplies 38 radio stations and 30 newspapers with predictions. It recently started a radio facsimile transmission service, which sends weather maps within a 70-mile...