Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-30
TOrnadOes and Their Causes.


We have been accustomed to look at
the Great West as affording, even now,
vast areas Tor settlement, toward which
foreign immigration and the movement
OF population from the States, following
parallels OF latitude, will constantly
tend until that fertile region is flied up
with towns and villages and farms. To
some extent this expectation will proba.
bly, be fulfilled But there are certain
adverse conditions which everv wear are
making themselves more and more felt
and which, so far as the central States of
the West are concerned, will deter MANY
new corners from settling there. 1t is
not the soil or the climate that will keep
immigrants from going there. but the
frequent ravages of grasshoppers and
locusts, and, above all, the annual re-
currence of tornadoes This subject has
been ably discussed by Mr.. T. B. Maui
~ in an article on tornadoes and
their causes, published in the
September number of the North AgQeri
can Re0ielo. The question has recently
been Iaised as to whether the fatality and
frequency of these violent wind storms
in the central Western States will not
have a permanent effect on the settle
ment and prosperity of that part of the
country. If they simply occurred at
long intervals, or arose from causes that
could be obviated by mans ingenuity.
their effect on the increase of population
would be made But Mr.. Maury points
out that their annual recurrence NAV
also be expected, that there are no hu-
man means of preventing them, and that
as the Sun has more than once said and
Mr.. Maury confirms, their fatality and
frequency invest them with an interest
that "must continually deepen as The re.
gions they ravage become more thickly
pOpula' ed. Even now, according to
some reports from the West. "tbe
alarm created by these storms is so great
that the people are digging holes in the
ground and building various cyclone
proof retreats; while, in many instances.
persons are preparing to abandon the
country entirely" If the track of the
tornado could be permanently established
and defined, it would be possible for per
sons to open up farms and build villages
outside of it. But its ravages will take
one direction through JLo .clsrrad
States one year and another direction Jhe
next, so that none Of the settlers eau feel
have forewarning of the ume Of its an
Droach. MIR. Maury's theory, which is
backed by ugh authority is that our
Western tornado Rre caused by atmos
pherlc collisions occuIrlug between two
permanent currents of wind; one from
the north laden with the Geld air from
the Rocky Mountains, the other
from the south bringing heated
air from the Gulf Stream. "The
Mississippi valley" he SAYS,
"is a grand continental highway in
summer for the vapor-laden trade winds
which, entering the Gulf of Mexico, are
arrested in their westward movement,
and must find an outlet northward
through the natural highway of the Mis-
sissippi valley. The anti-trades, which
form the equatorial current, are stimuli.
taneously pressing northward, especially
at that season, as an upper current.
Considering, then, the geographical re-
lation of the Mississippi valley to the
great equatorial current which glides
over it, gradually descending toward the
surface of the earth and underrun in
summer by the trade wind current d.
verted nOrthward from the Gulf, it is not
remarkable that our central West, living
also within reach of the polar winds from
the Rocky Mountain plateaus, should be
the scene of the most terrific aerial dis
turbances witnessed on any part of the
globe.
This description is so clear that any
ordinarily intelligent person can under.
stand from it how these tornadoes Origi- |
nate, and how impossible it is, except
under special circumstances. to guard !
against their effects. A prompt tele-
graphic service might warn the public
when the conditions favorable to the
formation of these storms existed.
There are also signs Of its coming in the
sultry air and in the violent cross cur
rents among the clouds, and in their
dark and OminOus appearance, as seen
from afar; but no one can tel where the !
tornado will strike, and the blow is SO
sudden that there is no safety for the
family except in places of refuge already
prepared; While for the stock, houses
and barns there is none at all One
means of protection alone remains.
Tomatoes always travel in our
hemisphere from west-sOuthwest to
east-nOrtheast, so that as Mr..
Maury points out, "a house or a town
built in valley running from southeast
to northwest, or on the northeastern or
eastern slopes of a hill, or range of
hills, would be considerably sheltered,
and The probabilities of a desolating |
visitation be greatly lessened." Unfor- |
tunately it so happens that the tornado |
belt lies chiefly within the vast prairie |
region, where no such shelter can be had |
and where resort must be had to the eel. !
lars of buildings, as was the case in the !
last tornado that caused so much loss of |
life and destruction of property at Grin
mel and on the line of its track, and |
which has led, as we now learn, on the
part of others to digging safety holes
in the ground and building various cy-
clone proof retreats If these are to
be the conditions of life in the tornado
torn States of the central West, it is OBJ
vious that they can offer few attractions
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