Chicago-Midway Weather Bureau, 1929

Current weather reports are collected and posted on this weather chart. Identifiable city names on this board, left side, under Weather Chart are Cleveland and Omaha. Right side under Winds aloft are Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, possibly Kansas City, unknown, and Omaha. Writing on the backside says “Weather Bureau Municipal Airport”.

Rooftop weather recording instruments. The Weather Bureau employee is pointing at the wind speed and wind direction Instruments.

Releasing a helium filled ceiling balloon. Upon release of the balloon the weather observer, using a stop-watch, times its accent until it fades into the clouds overhead.  The observer then refers to a chart to determine cloud height above the ground based on the balloons accent time.  This method provides a reasonable measurement of the base of a broken or overcast layer of clouds below about 3,000 feet.

Weather Bureau employees taking some type of unknown measurement, possibly a ceilometer to measure cloud height above ground.

Weather Bureau employees preparing to transmit a weather observation