weather service (weTHer ser vis)

An institution organized for taking meteorological observations in accordance with a systematic plan, and for utilizing the data thus collected by forecasting the weather, i uing warnings of storms and floods, publishing climatological tables, distributing information as to the effect of the weather on growing crops, and by allied services. All the principal governments of the world now maintain a weather-service, upon which a part or all of these duties are imposed. In the United States an annual appropriation of nearly a million dollars is made to the Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, which is charged with performing these services. In addition to the Weather Bureau, and coöperating with it, there is organized in nearly every State a State weather service, composed of voluntary observers whose work is directed toward giving information upon the condition of the crops as affected by the weather, and in general toward extending knowledge of local climatology. weather-shore (werH'er-shōr), n. The shore from which the wind blows. [The wind] set so violently as rais'd on the sudden so greate a sea that we could not recover the weather -shore for many houres. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 11, 1644. weather-sign (wer'er-sin), n. Any phenomenon or sensation indicating state or change of weather; hence, generally, any prognostic or sign. Before they grow the ivy. [ weather Mrs. Browning , Aurora Leigh, viii. He... felt that the shape and colour of every roof and weather - stain and broken hillock was good, because his growing senses had been fed on them. George Eliot , Mill on the Flo , iii. 9. With weather - stains upon the wall, And stairways worn, and crazy doors. Long fellow , Wayside Inn, Prelude. an alleged property of indicating the weather in advance. It is a common tropical twining shrub (see Abrus ), having pinnate leaves with from 20 to 40 small leaflets. Recent careful observations show that the pairs of leaflets fold together more or le as the light is stronger or weaker, the movement being le vigorous in a moister atmosphere; that a certain wrinkling of the surface coexists with a coloring of the margin likely to be due to the attacks of an insect; and that the movement of the rachis, supposed to be barometric, is a diurnal oscillation which varies in extent with the amount of light. The tempera ture also affects the freedom of those motions. These characteristics are all paralleled in other plants, especially of the Leguminosa. As a means of forecasting, the plant is not likely to be of practical worth. weather-proof (weth'er-pröf), a. Proof against rough weather. Lord, thou hast given me a cell Wherein to dwell, A little house, whose humble roof Is weather - proof . Herrick , A Thanksgiving to God for his House. There were only ten persons at the conference meet ing last night, and seven of them were women; he wonders how many weather - proof Christians there are in the parish. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 72. weather-prophet(we'er-prof"et), n. [=Dan. veir- profet; as weather + prophet.] 1. One who foretells weather; one skilled in foreseeing the changes or state of the weather. [Colloq.] Who that has read Greek does not know the humour with which the meteorological theories of the A then i an weather - prophets are ridiculed by Aris toph anes in "The Clouds"? R. H. Scott, in Modern Meteorology, p. 166. or discolored by the weather. See weathering, 2. A tomb somewhat weather -stained. Long fellow. 'ér-stā"shon), n. A sta A slender weather-station (werH'er-stā"sho tion where daily meteorological observations are made and reported to a central office; one of the stations of a weather-service. weather-strip (werH'er-strip), n. strip of some material intended to keep out wind and cold; originally, a strip of wood covered with soft material, as list or cloth; specifically, a contrivance by which a strip of india-rubber is adjusted closely to the apertures of a door or window, or its frame or jamb, covering the crevice very tightly: it is generally a wooden molding into which a thin strip of rubber is fitted. weather-strip (weTH'er-strip), v. t.; pret. and pp. weather - stripped, ppr. weather - stripping. To apply weather-strips to; fit or secure with weather-strips.