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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-12-16, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1987. PAGE 5. Doing something Weaf/yer observers may not be able to change the weather about the weather but at least they =^===—==s==______________ have the facts BY KEITH ROULSTON While most of us talk about weather and never do anything about it Boyd Taylor is doing something, if only keeping track of it. Mr. Taylor, who runs an orchard and farming operation a couple of miles east of Blythin Morris Township is one of more than 2,000 weather observers throughout Canada whorecord weather on a daily basis. People like Mr. Taylor, says Brad Schneller, manager of the Agro-Climatology Program for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food at Guelph, are the unsung heroes in recording the weather of the country. These weather observers are dedicated people, taking readings twice a day with no remuneration. Mr. Taylor took over the job from Louis Stadelmann when he retired from his Morris farm to live in Goderich in 1975. Someone was needed to look after the ‘ ‘ Blyth station” and Mr. Taylor took it over. The presence of the station on the farm helps the orchard operation, Mr. Taylor says. Fungicides, for instance, are applied to the apple trees in relationship to tempera­ ture and humidity: the higher the tempera­ ture and the higher the humidity, the shorter the infection period for apple scab. The equipment at the Taylor farm, and at the 360 other volunteer observation posts across the province, is quite simple. Out in a comer of the orchard is a white box on a post thatlooks a little like a beehive. Called a Stevenson screen, it has louvered sides that allow air to circulate into the box but prevents direct sunshine or rain from contacting the thermometers inside. There are two thermometers in the box. One, for recording the high temperature of the day is a like a medical thermometer that will rise to the highest temperature of the day, then stay there until the mercury is shaken down again after the reading is taken. The other thermometer records the lowest temperature during the night. In a clear spot on the other side of the house is the rain gauge, mounted, like the gauges at other weather stations, on a short stake close to the ground. Inside the house is a simple instrument that will be getting a good workout in the coming months: a stick calibrated in millimeters for measuring snowfall. Theobserver simply sticks the measuring stick down into the snow in various locations and measures how much snow has fallen. Readings are taken twice a day, once in morning and once in the evening, as close to 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. as possible. The figures obtained are entered in a log along with observations on the type of weather for the day such as sunny, cloudy or partly cloudy. At the end of each month Mr. Taylor, along with the other observers across the country, mails the report to Environment Canada. There, Mr. Schneller says, the figures from all across the country are thoroughly checked. They are then sent to Environment Canada’s Climate Centre in Downsview where they are given a final inspection and entered into computers. Information is then available to those needing it in periodical data publications, on microfilm and compu­ ter tape. Environment Canada gets about 200,000 requests a year for climatic data. The requests come from planners and decision makers in water resources, agriculture, transportation, energy, construction and many other social and economic sectors. Today’s system is part of a long history of weather recording that goes back long before the country was formed, let alone had a meteorological service. The earliest weather journal in Canada, Environment Canada says, was one kept for a 12-month period in Quebec City in 1765-1766. In the 1830’sRec. C. Dade in Toronto kept a record for an extensive period as did Dr. Charles Smallwood in Montreal in the 1850’s. Other early weather records were kept by Hudson Bay Company factors and explorers such as Palliser, Kelsey and Thompson. The system has grown immensely over the years. In 1871 there were 126 observation stations in the country compared to 2,700 by 1983. While the dedication shown by Mr. Taylor as a volunteer for a dozen years has been outstanding, he’s got a while to go to match some of the other stations. The Baird family of Brucefield have been recording the weather through three generations since the early part of the century. Environment Canada has a series of awards for long-time service as volunteers. This past year Dave Grummett and the staff at the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority at Wroxeter were presented The Award of Merit for 20 years of service. While many of the weather observation stations are on farms many others are manned by conservation authorities, On­ tario Hydro employees, universities and or other public bodies. The service has made Mr. Taylor observant of the weather in general and he keeps plenty of unofficial weather observa­ tions jotted down as well. This year those observations were that apple blossoms were out on May 12, the earliest date he remembers in his life; that the swallows disappeared August 25 as if they knew there was going to be an early fall and yet there were wild geese still spotted Dec. 2. He keeps track of other observations, such as a ring around the moon and the direction the wind was blowing at the official change of season (he notices that the direction generally holds true for a whole season). Boyd Taylor checks temperatures In the Stevenson screen, the little louvre-sided hut that shields equipment from sun and rain to ensure that accurate temperatures are recorded. The interest in weather has led Mr. Taylor to be involved in other weather projects. He’s also one of 1,400 volunteers in the Severe Weather Watch Program. If he sights some approaching weather pattern that doesn ’t look normal he has a toll free number and a special indentification number that allows him to give information quickly to weather officials. Sometimes they call him to ask for information. Once, for instance, radar showed a violent storm pattern coming off Lake Huron but when they called, he wasn’t observing anything. Friends in Bayfield also confirmed there was no bad weather. At the time of the Woodstock tornado, Mr. Taylor called Environment Canada to say he could observe severe weather to the south on what he thought would be a line from Goderich to Stratford. He didn’t find out until later that the disturbance was farther south. In the yard is a 10-metre tower that remains from 1980 University of Guelph research project. The University was trying toco-relate wind direction, temperature and humidity with ozone damage in white beans. The Taylor farm was chosen because of its 7.•• J gl elevation (1175 feet above sea level). The tower held the equipment for wind measurement. The weather records can also provide hours of fun comparing one year with another. By early December, for instance there had only been 25.1 inches of rain so far this year compared to 40.3 inches of rain in 1986 (with 353 mm. or nearly 14 inches in the month of September alone). In 1986 there were 129.8 inches of snow compared to just 66 inches to early December this year (but 149.6 inches in 1985). While most of the information goes to Environment Canada there are local uses as well. Radio stations call at times wondering about temperatures and there used to be a fuel company that called on a regular basis for information so it could estimate fuel consumption by homeowners. And there are the expectant mothers who call wanting to get information to sooth their worries about getting to the hospital. The weather fascinates us all and we all like to talk about it but few of us have as many facts at our fingertips as weather observers like Boyd Taylor. The International Scene After years of warring the Balkans are talking BY RAYMOND CANON 1 have on my desk a book entitled ‘‘History of the Balkans” which makes for very intersting if somewhat bloody reading. There is not a time, I can assure you, when one of the six nations that make up that area have not fought one of the other six. They have, in fact, changed from allies to enemies with amazing rapidity so that it is difficult to know at times who is on your side and who you are fighting against. One thing that I discovered during my travels through the Balkans is that hatreds die a slow death. 1 recall being in the city of Nis in Jugoslavia and the first thing that the locals wanted to show me was the display of skulls put there by the Turks when they were controlling the area just to remind the people who was boss. That was a long time ago but the animosity still remains. I went from there down to Greece and was instantly aware of the fact that the Greeks were not about to let the Germans forgetallofthe atrocities which were committed in that country during World War II. And so it goes. I could go on and on about the past but the present is proof enough. At the present time both Greece and Turkey are members of NATO and I helped to train aircrew from both countries. You would never know that they are allies; they hate each other with a vengeance and I once was reminded of this when 1 wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper suggesting that there was nothing wrong with a donation by the Canadian Armed Forces of some obsolescent F-104 Starfigh­ ters to the Turkish Air Force who needs all the help it can get. I immediately had the wrath of the local Greek community down on me for suggestion such a thing. You can imagine, then, how surprised 1 was recently to hear that the six countries that make up the Balkans are prepared to sit down at the conference table and attempt to patch up their differen­ ces. The size of this problem can be seen when I tell you that two (Bulgaria and Roumania) are members of the Russian dominat­ ed Warsaw Pact, two are members of NATO while the other two, Jugoslavia and Albania, while neutral, donotexactly like each other. The conference was proposed by Jugoslavia, an act which makes me wonder why Albania ever agreed to reply to the invitation, let alone take part. The Albanians, who consider themselves to be more neutral than the Swiss, normally boycott international conferences on principle, and generally have as little to do with the outside world as possible. We should have known that there might be a change in the wind when the Albanians decided to open diplomatic relations with Canada, of all people since we have very little to do with that country in the way of trade or culture. However, they did just that, although Ottawa must be still getting over the surprise of being singled out for what passes for attention in Albania. At any rate the conference of the* Balkan nations is scheduled to take place early in 1988 although there is not yet any agenda. The Jugoslavs are wise to concentrate on those items that could contri­ bute to more unity, not disunity: there is enough of the latter already. Some topics that come to mind include transportation, ener­ gy, commerce and environment; they might even get around to looking at the possibility of a nuclear-free zone. I would dearly love to go to the conference if only to witness how long it will take before one of the participants drags out some slight, real or imaginary, and proceeds to hammer another country with it. Even the host country, Jugoslavia, is not exactly overjoyed with its relations with Albania although, to be honest, the two did recently establish railway links for the first time. At least they are talking or planning to do so. That in itself is something positive and in the Balkans it must be considered as a rarety. I wish them all the best but I won ’ t be surprised if someone ends up by delcaring war on somebody else. As I said, hatreds die hard in that area.