Chapter 2: Some New Vistas (continued)

Barkley had a keen interest in the relation between the weather and human comfort. He studied zones of comfort in Australia. He believed that humidity was an important consideration in human comfort and determined that when the vapour pressure exceeded half an inch then you were in a zone of discomfort. I assisted him in preparing maps showing the variability and the zones of comfort in various seasons in Australia.

Quayle was interested in the easterly drift in cirrus cloud which indicated persistent strong westerly winds at high levels where pilot balloon observations were rare.

Quayle also believed in the value of constructing a daily map of the departure from normal of the minimum temperature. The map of Australia of departure from mean minimum temperature was constructed using maps containing the mean minimum temperature for that day of the month. The departure from the mean was entered on another map—red or black, plus or minus. The departure from the mean minimum temperature was assumed to give an indication of moisture in the air. This was used as a forecasting aid.

The scientific knowledge in meteorology in Australia at this time was somewhat elementary but Hunt, Taylor, Quayle, Kidson, and Barkley had published significant scientific papers, as had Russell and Todd in Colonial days. The scientific status of meteorology in overseas countries was not very advanced at that time.

Bureau of Meteorology