The expression partly sunny was brought to you by the same folks who brought you comfort station and sanitary engineer. As a technical meteorological term, partly sunny doesn't exist. So while you might assume that a partly sunny sky should be clearer than a partly cloudy one, the two terms signify the same condition. You have merely encountered a weathercaster who prefers to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.

Actually, most of the meteorological terms that seem vague and arbitrary have precise meanings. The degree of cloudiness is measured by the National Weather Service and described according to the following scales:

Percentage of Cloud Cover Term
0-30	clear
31-70	partly cloudy
71-99	cloudy
100	overcast

Where does "fair" weather fit into this spectrum? Fair weather generally refers to any day with less than a 50 percent cloud cover (thus even some "partly cloudy" days could also be "fair"). But even a cloudy day can be termed fair if the cover consists largely of transparent clouds. On days when a profusion of thin cirrus clouds hangs high in the sky but does not block the sun, it is more descriptive to call it a fair day than a partly cloudy one, since one thick cloud formation can screen more sunshine than many willowy cirrus formations.

You might also have heard the aviation descriptions of cloud cover used in weather forecasts. Here's what they mean:

Not many people know what the weather service means when it forecasts that there is a "chance" of rain. Precipitation probabilities expressed in vague adjectives also have precise meaning:

>How does the National Weather Service determine the daily cloud cover in the space age? Do they send up weather balloons? Satellites? Not quite. They send a meteorologist to the roof of a building in a relatively isolated area (airports are usually used in big cities) and have him or her look up at the sky and make a well-informed but very human guess.

When you are bored at breakfast, you read cereal boxes. When you are bored on an elevator, you read the elevator-inspection certificate, which in most localities is posted inside the elevator and includes not only emergency procedures, but specified weight and passenger capacities.

In most cities, it is a crime or a civil violation to overload an elevator. We've always wondered how these rules are enforced. Do the police conduct spot "weight traps," corraling unsuspecting hordes and putting them on cattle scales? Do those electric eyes on so-called security elevators actually do head counts, electronically signaling Interpol when there is one too many passengers in an elevator?

And what if the police do nab 11 people and 1600 pounds in an elevator designed for 10 people and 1500 pounds? Who is legally responsible? The last person to enter the elevator? The other 10 people, for allowing the illegal eleventh? And if there are only 10 people on the elevator, are you responsible for knowing the weight of your fellow passengers?

We talked to every branch of law enforcement in the elevator capital of the world, New York City, and we at Imponderables are pleased to inform you: Relax. No one could dig up a case, ever, where passengers were prosecuted for overloading an elevator, although such a rule is on the books. Even elevator inspectors we spoke to indicated that they wouldn't report freight elevators being overloaded and that they would be lucky if they didn't get cursed at for politely suggesting that maybe it would be a good idea not to try to cram ten refrigerators into a small elevator.

Little things like muggings and murders aren't the only reasons for law enforcement's laissez-faire attitude toward incipient elevator crime--overloading an elevator isn't particularly dangerous. Excess weight is not a common cause of elevator accidents. Most electronic elevators will simply not move if overweighted; others will not even close their doors.

The formula used for designating elevator capacities, developed by the federal government, is a bit on the arbitrary side. It isn't real complicated. Once the square footage and the technical specifications of the elevator are determined, a weight capacity is issued. Then that weight capacity is divided by 150 pounds to determine what number to list as the maximum passenger capacity. Obviously, this weight standard would not work for a convention of Overeaters Anonymous, and an elevator certainly can't sense whether there are 8 adults or 15 little kids in an elevator. The weight capacities are meant to be guidelines, although even the usefulness of guidelines is questionable when it is difficult to pack enough full-size adults in an elevator to exceed the stated limits and when it doesn't matter much, from a safety standpoint, whether the elevator is overloaded.

If there were a horrendous elevator accident, civil, not criminal, action is likely to occur, but the elevator passengers are more likely to be the plaintiffs than the defendants in such a proceeding. Most likely, injured passengers would sue the building that houses the elevator (for allowing its elevators to become overcrowded) and the manufacturer for building a defective elevator.

Copyright © 1986, 1987 by David Feldman