The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-04-25
A TIMELY TOPIC.
How Tornadoes Like That
Which Struck Browns
vile Originate.
An Interview with Prof. Nipher
OF Washington University,
st. Louis.


teriay by n Post-Dispatch reporter a. q"
the scientific theory underlying the origin
! of storms like that which struck Browns
Vile, Mo-, and which have been of such
frequent occurrence throughout Missouri
of late wears. He said:
The proper name Tor storms like that al
Brownsville yesterday is tornadOes. |
don't know why they are called cyclones.
although they cause just as much damage.
The cause OF these storms IL ultimately due
To differences of temperature in the air.
|! This theory is based upon observation anu
also upon mathematical calculation. Prof.
Ferret, of the Coast Survey. has calculated
the velocity i'm whirl with differences in
temperature, such as are frequently OBJ
served, and he finds the velocity due To the
unequal! difference i'm temperature sui
ticient To produce the effects observed in
tornado.
ToRNADOES ARE MOST FREQUENT IN SPRIN''
AND EARLY SUMNER,
or I'm the late autumn, and occur in nearly
| all cases when the temperature at the sur
/ face of the earth Is unseasonably warm.
These difficulties in temperature are more
common and greater in spring than III
summer when the surface Of the earth u
about warm everywhere The c;rcum-
stances which NAV usually produce a tor
nado then. are these a stratum Of hot air
/ near the surface with cooler air above; that
is. a condition oi unstable equilibrium.
Under such circumstances irregular cur
rents of air are likely To- form. They NAV or
NAV not come in collision with each other
so as tn produce a whirl; ii whirl hap
pens 10 be formed which is a matter of
pure chance, SD that the hot air begins To
tunnel up through the cooler air in the
vortex,
/ WE HAVE THE BEGINNING oF TORNADO.
Whether this whirl will develop into a tor
nado or not depends then upon the inten-
sity of the original impulse and the exist
ence of the uneguallv heated strata of air.
When the tornado is fully formed the
warm air feeds i'm ut the bottom, rushes up
through the chimney-like funnel. fall oi
temperature ensues as the gas expands,
or rising through the vortex. 81 that rain.
snow and hail form I'm the,upper part OF the
vortex, frequently accommodating there i'm
immense quantities, supported on this ris-
ing column of air and frequently pouring
down a. the vortex breaks, sometimes COM
ing down in streams and washing holes two
feet deep I'm the ground. but usually
these phenomena are not so much eXagger-
ated The effects are more damaging in
hillv countries, because OF the waters collect
ed in larger quantities in the valleys. Hail
stones thrown out ut the top OF the vortex
frequently fall down into the feeding winds
below and are again carried i'm. III two
such stones happen tO touch, they instantly
freeze together and Is many a. half dozen
are frequently found thus frozen together,
covered with a LAYER of ice deposited subse-
quently. There are, perhaps, three or four
eases where such stones have been found
which i'm size would he equal To- an ordi-
nary coffee boiler. Such stories are usually
rejected as Enthusiastically: nevertheless, the
cases referred to are vOuched for by persons
whose veracity is beyond question, and the
phenomenon Is certainly possible"
rs there any human agency which could
break one of these worthless i'm time To pre-
vent its doing anv DAMAGE"
''In general would saw it would be en-
tirely impracticabie. The whirls generally
form in the air and develop i'm such large
size that when they come down near the
earth they are entirely unmanageable The
apparatus for doing IL is not usually avail
able at the right time. 1t is therefore very
questionable whether IL could be done I'm
any case.
How do these tornadoes usually travel ~
Generally i'm straight line, and have
been quite evenly distributed over the en-
tire state. On the day of the Marshield
storm there were eleven destructive whirls.
two Of which were at least as large and
violent as the one which destroyed Marsh
field One of them passed up the valley of
Finley creek. just south of the Marshfield
storm the other originated in the south
ern part of Morgan county and destroyed
Barnettsville. The tracks of both of these
tornadoes were fully "a wide a. the one at
VI arshfield."
Gould storm of equal magnitude and
violence with the Marshiield and Browns
Vile tornadoes rushing through city like
-. Louis DO ii a. much damage IL these
did,"
We'll, no. sir. IL might lift the roofs
of OF houses in the central part of the
city, but it would not blow any, save per
haps few unsubstantial buildings, down
entirely In the outlying districts OF the
city, crowded with dwellings and other
like light structures, il would be quite IL
: able to do just a. much damage To life and
property a. was the case i'm Brownsville oil
Marshfeld. The larger buildings in the
town, however, could hardly be perma.
nently injured. The reason for this Is that
a stoutly built house is generally strong
enough to resist successfully the force oi
the tornado Thus it occurred at Marsh
: field and Brownsville that a Jew large
brick buildings directly on the track OF the
: tornado were blown down, but more fragile
frame buildings Immediately behind them
escaped damage, simply because the
stronger houses dissipate the wind in
time TO prevent its reaching the smaller
house. The vortex, it Is true, forms again
; and it does just as much damage a. il did
before"
Died
; To-day, al ll:50 o'clock a. m, in South
! Sedalia. infant daughter of r. :. anC