Day of the Hydrometeorological Service of the Russian Armed Forces

Not only the well-being of people, but also the results of their life activities depend on the weather and climate of the area Atmospheric phenomena in the form of wind, rain, hail or frost affect crop yields, availability and quality of water resources, biodiversity of ecosystems, and affect the success of military operations For the first time, the need to control weather conditions on the front line was announced in 1915 by Nicholas II However, atmospheric phenomena in the Russian Empire began to be observed long before his order Thus, back in 1834, by decree of Nicholas I, the Normal Magnetic Meteorological Observatory was created By this time, weather observations had already been carried out throughout Russia In 1872, the first issue of the “Daily Meteorological Bulletin” was published, which published information received by telegraph from 2 foreign and 26 domestic weather monitoring stations Materials for the magazine were provided by the Main Physical Observatory, opened in 1849 in St Petersburg, which was engaged in compiling weather forecasts Until the beginning of the 20th century The profession of “meteorologist” was classified as a civilian profession The First World War was marked by the active use of poisonous gases, aeronautics and aviation on the battlefield In order to predict weather conditions affecting the results of battles, the Regulations on the Main Military Meteorological Directorate were approved by decree of Nicholas II The initiator of its creation was the inventor of the first electromagnetic seismograph BB Golitsyn Subsequently, the famous geophysicist headed the new structure In memory of the publication of the imperial decree on December 22, 1915, this date became the Day of the Hydrometeorological Service of the Armed Forces Initially, the Directorate consisted of only three departments: instrumental support, weather forecasting and scientific development Service employees were also involved in the development of technical tools used in hydrometeorology Over time, the division expanded Since 1918, the data provided by the Directorate began to be used by the Red Banner Fleet of the RSFSR - the weather forecast at sea is no less important than information about atmospheric phenomena on land and in the air Since the creation of the Russian hydrometeorological industry, the development of the military sector has been a national task, solved by the joint efforts of various departments After the October Revolution, the Hydrometeorological Service Department became part of the Red Army Timely weather reports played an important role during combat operations of the Great Patriotic War Thus, forecasts for the use of enemy and Russian armored forces in winter were made taking into account the thickness of ice and the time of its formation on rivers, the amount of snow cover, visibility in blizzard conditions and other factors In the middle of the twentieth century specialists of the hydrometeorological service of the USSR Armed Forces learned to influence weather conditions Thus, with their participation, radioactive clouds were dissipated after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant The achievements of military meteorologists and their activities in forecasting weather conditions today are one of the types of combat support that helps to increase the efficiency of the use of armed forces The professional holiday is celebrated on December 22 by active service employees, veterans and university teachers who train specialists in this profile Every year, meteorologists graduate from the St Petersburg Military Space Academy named after AF Mozhaisky and Voronezh Air Force Academy named after prof NOT Zhukovsky and YuA Gagarin The solemn date appeared on the calendar in December 1995 as a result of the release of Order No 403 on the establishment of the holiday by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Since that time, every year military meteorologists are greeted with congratulations and good wishes, and service veterans are awarded certificates of honor and valuable prizes