Isaac Cline

Isaac Monroe Cline, New Orleans, 1910

Isaac Monroe Cline (born October 13, 1861 in Madisonville , Tennessee , † August 3, 1955 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) was a meteorologist in the US Weather Bureau, later the National Weather Service , and a pioneer in weather and flood forecasting. His work on hurricane warnings and flood warnings for rivers was particularly important.

Life

education

Cline, the son of a farmer, entered the US Weather Service on July 7, 1882 after training at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, where he earned a bachelor's degree. This was founded in 1870 as part of the US Army Signal Corps (about: Telegraphy Troop). In the Meteorological School of the Service in Fort Myer, Cline received cavalry training, which also included infantry parts, in addition to comprehensive training in optical and electrical signaling devices up to telephones and telegraphs, as well as meteorological training, which also included a great deal of weight put the weather observation.

Professional career

Due to good performance, Cline was transferred early to the Little Rock weather station in Arkansas as meteorological assistant . Here, in addition to the routine tasks, he had to deal with the influence of the weather on the appearance of the rock mountain insect . In addition, Cline took on the intention of turning to medical meteorology , in his remaining free time to study medicine and graduated in 1885 as an MD. At the same time he also obtained a master's degree from his old college. After another position as an assistant in Fort Smith , Arkansas, he was transferred to Fort Concho, a former Indian war outpost in San Angelo , Texas, which then had fewer than 100 residents. He was later transferred to the much larger Abilene . Here Cline married Cora May Ballew on March 17, 1887. In March 1889 he was transferred to the newly created weather department in the then Texan metropolis of Galveston , where he also became director of the new Texas section of the weather service. In addition to the usual tasks, special forecasting services for the state's cotton cultivation had to be provided. When the US Department of Agriculture took over the service under the new name Weather Bureau, Cline decided to remain in the weather service. He was therefore released from military service on June 30, 1891 and taken on as a civilian employee by the Ministry of Agriculture the following day.

In an internal competition of the new Weather Bureau for weather forecasting, Cline came in fifth. Cline was able to provide the proof of concept for temperature forecasts and so in the winter of 1895/96 in the USA for the first time published minimum temperature forecasts useful for agriculture that were available at least 24 hours in advance. He managed to exchange data with the Mexican weather service, which is important for forecasting, and also to set up weather stations in Mexico. Because of the extensive irrigation in Texas, extensive precipitation and water flow observations were available here, with which Cline developed a forecast system for the water flow in rivers. In the spring of 1900 he was able to forecast major floods on the Colorado and Brazos in good time . During this time, Cline's personal interests were in medical meteorology, including teaching medical climatology at Texas Medical College in Galveston. In addition, he dealt with philosophy and sociology and received his doctorate in 1896 from AddRan Christian University .

In the port city of Galveston, which was repeatedly hit by storms but never caused major damage, a protective wall at sea was built, especially after the destruction of the competitor Indianola by a hurricane in 1886 with over 100 dead along the entire coast discussed. In 1891, Cline published an article in the local newspaper explaining that no hurricane could pose a threat to Galveston. The island and the mainland behind it are too shallow for a major storm flood to build up in front of Galveston . In addition, severe hurricanes are rather rare in Texas. On September 8, 1900, however, Galveston was struck by a cyclone that caused 4.75 m high water with it, over two meters more than the highest point on the island. Most of the city was destroyed, around a fifth of the 38,000 inhabitants perished. Cline's pregnant wife was among the victims, and his three daughters survived with him. With the approach of the hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico, meteorological data was scarce. Nevertheless, Cline had already triggered a storm warning the day before, although he was thereby violating the regulations of the Weather Bureau, and continued to closely monitor and log all weather phenomena and the state of the sea or make sure that this happened while it was still possible. During the night he accommodated 50 people in his supposedly safe stone house, but most of them perished when this too was shattered by the storm. For his behavior during the storm, he received formal recognition from the head of the Weather Bureau.

Cline later stated that prior to this experience, he could not have imagined the extent of damage a tropical cyclone can cause. This experience became decisive for his further professional commitment. He now saw much more pressing problems in the field of tropical cyclones than in that of medical meteorology. Cline now became head of the newly created regional forecast center for the Gulf States. This was relocated from Galveston to New Orleans in 1901, where Cline was again section director for Louisiana. Because of the local conditions, it immediately started working on the flood forecast . In the spring of 1903 he predicted a dangerously high water level in the Mississippi several weeks in advance, which would necessitate temporary elevation of the levees. This led to conflicts with the headquarters of the Weather Bureau, where such long-term forecasts were not considered feasible. Cline's public reputation began to take hold when the actual peak of the flood was just four inches from forecast. However, his difficulties within the service persisted until a change at the top of the agency in 1913. Cline also provided correct predictions of major events for a flood in 1912 and a hurricane in 1915, which reached the highest wind speeds recorded up to that point. In 1926 he published the results of his work on cyclones in book form, thus providing meteorology with important new means of forecasting. Finally, he correctly predicted the course of the great Mississippi flood of 1927, which affected 70,000 km² of land and resulted in the evacuation or relocation of 700,000 people. For this work he was given formal recognitions by the President's Representative on the Floods, then Trade Minister Herbert Hoover , and his superior Agriculture Minister.

Late years

In 1935, Cline retired from the service at the age of 75. He then turned his hobby into a profession and ran a small art house in New Orleans. He himself owned an extensive collection with several focal points. He also continued to observe the new findings of hurricane research, for which he published several summarizing reports. In 1945 he published his memoir.

In memory of Cline, the US National Weather Service annually awards the Isaac M. Cline Award to employees who have achieved outstanding service.

Works

• Summer hot winds on the great plains. Washington: The Society, 1894
• Tropical cyclones, comprising an exhaustive study of features observed and recorded in sixteen tropical cyclones which have moved in on gulf and south Atlantic coasts during the twenty-five years, 1900 to 1924 inclusive. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926
• A century of progress in the study of cyclones. Aids in forecasting movements and destructive agencies in tropical cyclones. 3rd ed. New Orleans, La. : Rogers Printing Co. (printer), 1942
• Storms, floods and sunshine; a book of memoirs by Isaac Monroe Cline. New Orleans: Pelican Publishing Company, 1945, reprinted 2000

literature

• Erik Larson : Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History . Random House, 1999

Web links

Commons : Isaac Cline  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• NOAA: Brief Biographies of the National Weather Service
• NOAA: Excerpt from Cline's memoir
• Keith Heidorn, The Weather Doctor: Dr Isaac M. Cline: A Man of Storm and Floods - Biography