Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-07-08
ABOUT TORNADOES.
How They Get Themselves Up. and
Where.

aging antics out west-in short, how they get
| themselves up and how they get in their work. :
Well, answered che Young signal officer
/ politely. I'm sorry my big book on the subject
| isn't published yet, but I'll talk extempore in a
| general way. Tornadoes 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"-hold-
| ing up map and running his blue pencil across
| 1t. as though maps were as cheap as decorated
window-shades- Certain conditions invariably
| precede these storms There is usually quite a
long period of meteorological quiet. From two
weeks to at least a month soft, warm moist
| winds will blow from the Gulf of Mexico, bring
| ing an incalculable 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 section Of the
| country"
Can air be banked in that fashion, and held
| subject to draft or check, as 1t were 2" 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 de-
velop Its hidden resources. By-and-bye, these
comes on the struggle for the mastery. Did
you ever see a dog fight ?"
Always suspicious of a verbal 'trap," the re-
porter answered cautiously, "Iye seen two dogs
| fight"
That's what mean The cold, dry air and
the warm moist air are the two dogs They
meet. grapple and roll over and over-now 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?"
They are rarely quite the same, and an un-
practced eye might not observe them at all.
Commonly the symptoms something like
TINS: Clouds are seen approaching each other
a fhnx-n int
| tact presently and form a whrl. This is the
focus or vortex of the disturbance. Other
clouds from all points of the compass are drawn
| In like floating bits of timber into the NOrwe-
gian nlaelstrom. Then they take the shape of a
tunnel, point downward. and stoop until they
come in contact with the earth"
hat is the next step i'm the movements"
First, we must remember that a tornado as
Indicated by this visible cloud funnel has five
distinct motions as follows: First an inward
motion interiorily, resembling that Of thread
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 sec
ond. revolving motion, about an axis;
third. an oscillatlng motion, swaying from side
to side. as around moving center, like as when
one holds the end of string 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"
THAT is about as complicated as Waltham
watch. How fast does the tornado move, as a
body, across country, when it is bent on mis-
chief? I've read in the papers that in the late
tOrnadoes in the west the wind blew at the rate
of sixty miles an hour"
"That is true of the revolving motion, but
not OF the general advancing one. The latter
varies from ten to thirty miles an hour. This
movement does no harm; all the damage is
done by the twisting, whirDg motion, and the
power of that is incalculable."
lis the DAMAGE ordinarily great as rppOrf-
ed In the account published in the newspa-
pers?"
Not bya considerable margin, The news
paper stories are mostly lies"
Sir, shouted the reporter, springing to his
feet in a parOXysm Of Indignation, newspapers
never lie, except, perhaps, when they publish
weather reports, for which the editors cannot
be held responsible" '71E
There, then; cool down and you'll do your
self Signal Service. Only western newspapers
lie. The New York journals are sometimes led
astray by them-that is all. Why, Chicago pa
per printed story that in late tornado out
west a wagon and four horses were lifted from
the road and lodged in the top Of big tree"
''Well, weren't they?" innOcently as one who
credited the tale of Washington and his little
Ratchet.
''Bless it, no. They were caught in the whirl
and twisted round a little tree and left there,
the horses and driver dead, and the wagon
smashed into kinding wood"
might as well have gone up the big tree
philOsOphically.
''Wili you, as a truth-telling observer, inform
me Of any indubitable cases that have come
within your knowledge illustrating the power
of the tornadO?"
81 can do that honestly, because I've been out
with view to investigate that very thing by
order of the Signal Service Department.
have seen-seeni mark yOu-a piece of pine
blown through hickory sapling. making al
most as clean wreck of it as though a cannon
ball had gone through it. | have seen shingles
torn from the roofs of houses and driven into
telegraph poles. There is one curious fact about
these tOrnadOes which | ought to mention
When woman is caught ply one of them and
whrled around in the air awhile, she is finally
sat down without rag Of clothing on her; and
when a hen or chicken is taken up the wind
cleans the feathers off as though the bird had
been scalded and plucked for the pot. Now, the
wind treats men differently rarely DESTROYING
their DRESS
''That's odd enough" unused the reporter
''Perhaps Old Boreas is disguised with the
styles in women and Chickens and takes that
rude way of showing it,"
Maybe. But speaking of the power of the
tornado. I've known objects of considerable
weight carried from few yards to twenty
miles. | knew OF a piece of tile, from a barn,
to be picked up by the tornado, carried eight
miles, and then driven half its length into the
ground; and it weighed 400 pounds"
''Seems to me that's about as tough a story
as those told in the newspapers" suggested the
reporter mildly.
''But my stories happen to be facts" answered
Mr.. Merrill, with perfect command of temper,
as though his spirit dwelt perpetually In an
area of high barometer.
''What's the difference between tornado and
q cyclone?"
"a tornado is a baby cyclone. A cyclone |
sweeps over an ocean circle Of 100 miles in diam
eter while in the case of q tornado the path Of |
destruction ranges from one-quarter to half |
mile in width. The disturbance is local; it is |
like locomotive confined to track. Three or |
four miles from this track there is comparatively
little disturbance during its progress
''What becomes Of the tornado after ft is sat- |
isfed with any single performance; how does it |
make it's exit. so to speak, from before q critical |
Western audience?"
After running amuck for from twenty to fifty /
miles the 1unnel-shaped cloud is drawn up into |
the sky as rapidly as it descended. and the /
shower Is over for that occasion. Heavy rain
falls follow tOrnad0es, following in their track
as lady's train follows her as she sweeps |
through q drawing room. This Ia the water /
which the moist winds spoke of have brought /
up from the Gulf. l found a great deal of hail, /
too, commonly, which shows that the tornado /
clouds move in belt of hail clouds. Tomatoes |
revOlve in the same direction as cyclones, Oppo-
site to the hands of q watch. The belt Of these /
storms extends through the CarOlinas and Geor-
yinNn of n1A