San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-08-17
TORNADOES.
,,,,.,. the seoarss OF the West Gets Its Power
New York Star. June 26.

ct am come" said the reporter, "to
-, vou 10 tell me about tornadoes. /
nj 10 know something-or, rather,
.na nsople do AS to how these Western
,ornadoes, such as are now playing
their damaging antics out West-in
.bort. how they get themselves up and
how they get in their workG"
aWeI," answered the young signal
officer, politely, "Tm sorry my big book
on the subject isn't published yet, but
I'll talk extempore in general way.
Toruadoes usually run off the southern
border of areas Of low barometer.
These areas extend over the whole
Western country. Here you'll see it on
the map (holding up map and running
his blue pencil across it as though maps
we're as cheap as decorated window
sbades.) Certain conditions always
nrecede these storms. THERE'S usually
quite a long period of meteorological
ouiet. From two weeks to q month,
soft, warm moist winds will blow from
the Gulf of Mexico, bringing an meal
culable amount of moisture. This is
the material for the tremendous rainfall
which accompanies the tornado. After
these winds have ceased, dry, cold
winds will begin to blow from the north,
continuing anywhere from two to five
weeks. By this time an overwhelming
mass of air is accumulated in that sec
ton of the country"
BANKING UP AIR.
"Can air be banked in that fashion
and held subject to draft or check, as
it were?" asked the greenhorn.
"Yes, it can. just as water can. Air
is then something like great masses of
gunpowder in storage, waiting for some
other power to develop it's hidden re-
sources. By and by these opposite
currents meet in the heavens, and then
comes on the struggle for the mastery.
Did you ever see dog fght?"
give seen two dogs fight"
"That's what I mean. The cold, dry
air and the warm, moist air are the two
dogs. They meet, grapple and roll
over and overflow one on top and
now the other. In unscientifc Ian.
guage, that's tornado"
"What are the signs to show when
the fight is coming on?"
"Why are rarely quite the same,
and an unpractised eye might not OBJ
serve them at all. Commonly the symp-
toms are something like this: Clouds
are seen approaching each other from
opposite directions; they come into
contact presently and form whirl.
This is the fucus or vortex of the dis
turbance. Other clouds from all points
of the compass are drawn in like float
ing bits of timber into the Norwegian
maelstrom. Then they take the shape
Of funnel, point downward, and
stoop until they come in contact with
the earth"
"What is the next step in the move.
ment?"
First, we must remember that a
tornado, as indicated by this visible
cloud-funnel, has five distinct motions,
asfollows: First, an upward motion in
teriorly, resembling that of the threads
Of screw, by which it picks up articles
from the surface, lifts them into the
air and carries them as though on an
invisible platform; second, revolving
motion, as about an axis; third, an oscil-
lating motion. swayipg from side to side.
as around a moving center, like as
when one holds the end of spring in
his fingers and revolves the other end
to which piece of lead is attached;
fourth, motion by which currents of
air from all sides are drawn to it; and
fifth, general progressive motion on
its track"
A ToRNADo's TRAVELLING SPEED.
How fast does the tornado move,
as body, across the country, when it
is bent OIL mischief? I've read in the
papers that in the late tornadoes in the
West the wind blew at the rate of six
ty miles en- hour"
THAT is true of the revolving motion,
but not of the general advance one.
Tho loflar 1,or;au from tan ia thirty