From The Archives: TV Satellite's Weather Map

The image on the cover of the February 3, 1958 issue of Aviation Week, shows the weather map of North America as it would be transmitted by television by satellite 4,000 mi. over Amarillo, Texas. 

The image was drawn by Dr. Harry Wexler, director of meteorological research at the U.S. Weather Bureau. Surface features are drawn taking into account earth's normal colors, reflectivity of sunlight, scattering and depleting effects of light passing through the atmosphere, with calculated brightness of various cloud types.

The weather features show three types of cyclonic storms extending southwest from Hudson Bay to Texas; similar system over the bay of Alaska; small hurricane developing in normal trade wind cloud pattern just north of Puerto Rico; equatorial front meeting zone of northeast and southeast trade winds - extending west of the Isthmus of Panama to mid-Pacific; line squall in the Eastern U.S.; scattered cumulus clouds over heated land areas; lenticular clouds usually found where the jetstream crosses mountains as over the northern Canadian rockies, and low stratus and fog off Californian coast over the Great Lakes and in the Newfoundland area.  

See the cover of the February 3, 1958 issue of Aviation Week. 

Enjoy unlimited access to the complete Aviation Week Archive which has over 100 Years of Aviation Week — at your fingertips.

Every issue, every page, every article we have ever published. Your subscription includes full access to the archives, plus current Aviation Week & Space Technology articles (both digital and print packages available).