The Weather Notebook: Canadian Trains

Canadian Trains
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Today, with just a touch of a mouse‹or television clicker‹any one, almost anywhere in North America can get a fix on the weather.

Of course that wasn't always the case even when early technology was "democratizing" the flow of weather information.

In 1876, the Canada Meteorological Service began using the telegraph to issue official storm warnings, but they soon realized that some people in remote locations were still missing out.

So in 1884, the weather service devised a new system: they used the railroads that ran regular trains across those agricultural regions to display the forecast message.

Early each morning, local railway agents received the regional forecasts from the Toronto weather office. Depending on the forecast, the agents would affix large metal discs to the locomotive or to baggage cars appropriate for the region through which the trains leaving that morning would pass. So, for example, trains headed from Toronto toward the Maritimes received forecasts for eastern regions between Toronto and Atlantic Coast.

The shape imprinted on the metal disc signified the approaching weather. To farmers working their fields, seeing a full moon disc displayed on a passing train meant sunny skies would prevail, a crescent moon signified approaching showers, and a star, prolonged rain.

At first, the system was well received. But mistrust eventually arose over the posted forecasts because, through neglect or laziness, local rail agents did not always keep the forecast signal discs up-to-date. And within a decade or so, the railroad distribution system was dropped.

Today we thank contributing writer and meteorologist Keith Heidorn of Victoria, British Columbia. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported generously by the National Science Foundation.