Storm against storms

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STORM AGAINST STORMS

A little over a hundred years ago there was a storm, thanks to which a meteorological service for the world was created.

On November 14, 1854, a severe storm caused irreparable damage to the sums of the French and their comrades who took part in the siege of Sevastopol. Known about this, great despondency arose in France.

Having learned about the storm in Balaklava Bay, the director of the Paris Astronomical Observatory, Le Verrier, asked the scientists engaged in meteorological observations at that time to provide him with materials from the previous two days. As Le Verrier predicted, the Balaclava storm could be predicted by distributing data over a large area. The scientist’s precise calculations and impeccable logic convinced the French government to allocate funds for the creation of a national weather service.

Since 1857, other states began to join this system. In Russia, synotic maps appeared in 1872.

It is curious that some meteorological observations and their records (primitive, of course) date back to a much earlier period. The “Daily Records” of the Order of Secret Affairs from 1657 to 1673 have reached us, but with long interruptions. Here are samples of these entries:

“1657, January 30, Friday. The day before lunch was cold and windy, but after lunch it thawed, and it was windy at night.

February 4, Wednesday. The day was warm and windy, and half an hour before night it began to snow and continued until five o’clock in the morning, but the night was warm.

Maya 31, week. Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed, and it rained, and after that until the evening it was windy and windy, and the night was warm.”