PART IT
Categories of Weather in the Marshall Islands Area,

In the attempts to analyze and lend comprehension to the weather of the Marshalls area, it has been observed that one of three
typical weather situations may reasonably be expected to exist.

In

the oceanic tropics, as in higher latitudes, cloud systems have
been found associated with specific types of wind systems,

In Cen-

tral Pacific tropical areas, however, the connection between wind
systems and the clouds is much more obscure than in higher latitudes
and requires for its discovery more detailed and extensive research,
At first sight the surface winds in the Marshalls, particularly to
the northward near Eniwetok and Bikini, appear to undergo very mi-

nor. variations whereas the clouds may change greatly from day to
day in form, amount, and height,

Nevertheless, recent research

based on high-level observations taken during the course of atomic
tests since 1946 reveals that cloud cover is correlated with major

wind systems and that the general day-to-day weather situations
fall into the following three general, but fairly well marked,
categories,
A,

Trade.
The first of these categories of weather situation may be

called the "trade't situation,

Over the Marshall Islands, north of

5° north, east-northeast to northeast winds prevail in the lower
levels of the atmospheres the wind speeds range between five and

ten knots from the equator to 10° north, increasing to as much as

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