Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1881-05-26

collect at certain places and force il,
way in a solid stream down through In,
ascending air. Having once made M
outlet tor itself the water is necess lril,
accelerated in velocity. SO that before
reaching the earth the stream NAV be
pouring with irresistible force. cutting,
when II strikes, the sharply marked
and often deep chasms LETT by cloud
bursts. especially on hil-sides.
When the ascending current carrie.
the ynpOr into the region of frost -
which Is at lower altitude within the
Elfating funnel than outside OF 1.-THE
condensed vapor is converted into hail
The small hailstones may then be kept
suspcnued Eear the basd OF tie aao,-
cloud aud enlarged by additions of
freezing rain In this way compact
homogeneous halstoues Of ordinary
size are formed. At the height OF z, 900
yards the air has lost more than half its
density, yet an ascending velocity of
twenty yards second. which must be
no unusual one in tornadoes, would
sustain even at that altitude haistones
OF considerable size. IL Is not neces-
sory that the hailstones should remain
IN the freezing region long time, or
/ remain stationary. They may be car
/ RED from this vortex ont where the as
/ cendlng current is small. and, dropping
! down some distance, may be carried
into the vortex by inilOwing currents
/ and again thrown up To the region Of
I frost The nucleus OF large hailstones
( is usually compacted snow. A small
| ball OF snow saturated with rain is car
/ ried higher and freezes; and being of
( less specific gravity than compact hail
I II is kept where ii receives thick coat
/ ing OF ice from the unfrozen water
! dashed against il, and afterwards falls
/ 10 the earth, either at Il distance from
( the vortex where the ascending cur
rents are weak, or near il after the up
rush has been sufficiently exhausted.
! Sometimes, as IN the case of the cloud
burst, an almost incredible amount of
accumulated hail may fall in short
time, when the energy of the system Is
suddenly spent.
The formation of large hailstones by
concentric layers Of clear ice and white
snow, laid on like coats of an onion,
viii be readily understood from the
foregoing, As many as thirteen LAYERS
have been observed in large hailstones,
showing that they must have made
hall a dozen circuits being SucccsSivaly
thrown out of the frosty vortex above
and sucked in below by the indowing
currents, each time adding to their coat
ing of snow and ice before their final
fall TO earth.
When the tornado is very small ia
the area covered by the gyratory mo-
ton, a land spout or u water spout is
formed, as IL may happen 10 occur on
land or at sea. In these the gyratorv
velocity rapidly diminishos with dis
tance from the center. Their destruct-
i've effects are sudden and often great;
but the area of violence is small In
the center of waterspout, as i'm that
of tornado when in full force, no rain
falls or water deScendS in any form,
though heavy shower often falls in
the vicinity. On land dust and light
substances are carried up, and as they
are being collected from all sides by
inhowing currents toward the vortex
below, they assume the form of cone,
which meets the descending spout,
falling apparently from the clouds, and
thus give the whole phenomenon the
appearance of an ur-glass
The observed diameter of water
HiibhAN ldHht bttNNNu tWO Nuu lNO
hundred feet or more, and their heights
from thirty to fifteen hundred feet,
sometimes very much more; but none
of these observations can be regarded
as at all exact. With high tempera-
ture and very low dew point Mr., Fer
rel calculates that water spout might
reach a mile ia height, but such condi-
tiuns must occur rarely. Water spouts
are often observed 10 drop down from a
cloud in an incredibly short space of
time, and TO be drawn up again in the
same manner; but this is all an illusion
When the gyrations are such rs TO not
quite reduce the tension and tempera-
ture i'm the center, so as to condense the
aqueous yapor and make it visible,
very slight increase at once reduces tho
temperature sufficiently, and the spout
appears from top 10 bottom almost in
spontaneously. just the reverse of this
takes place, when the spout breaks, and
il seems 10 be drawn up instantly; il is
dissolved, not lifted. Tornadoes and
waterspouts originate only in an un-
stable state of equilibrium of the air,
which requires an unusually rapid de-
crease of temperature with increase of
altitude. This can take place only
when the strata nearest the earth are
unusually heated; accordingly they
never occur at night or in the
winter, and but rarely in cloudy
weather. lfany agitation OF the air
such rs that arising from the discharge
of cannon, tends to break up these me-
teors, then any considerable disturb
ance of the air from any cause must
tend tODreVent their formation Hence
they occur az sea and on the lakes only |
when there is little or no wind.
White squalls ~ Invisible spouts
and the cloud when formed SO high, !