The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-05

worthy warnings may soon be sent out to the
inhabitants of localities which may be threat
ened with these disastrous visitations. The per-
centage of veri6cation is already gratifying
though the predictions are. as yet, largely ex-
perimental. and are embodied in the daily pub
lished bulletins of the Signal Office only when
the conditions favorable to the creation of lorna
does are very prominent. In such cases severe
local storms are noted probable. To o re-
porter of the Associated Press Lieutenant Fin.
ley recently described the known
phenomena of tornadoes. These storms
have distinctly marked characteristics, and
are by no means to be confounded
with hurricanes 'bizzards" cyclones. or north
casters Their tracks are never more than few
hundred yards wide, and their forces are gener-
ally exhausted by the time they have travelled
course of forty or fifty miles, though in this
latter respect they are quite variable, some
having been traced by their lines of devastation
more than one hundred and eighty miles. Their
rotary motion, which is greatest toward the GEN.
ter. sometimes reaches the enormous rate Of
1000 miles an hour, while their forward move
ment always from southwest to northeast, or
dinarily does not exceed forty or fifty miles.
They are usually unaccompanied by electrical
disturbances, and are believed to be uninfuenced
by electrical conditions, though violent
thunder storms sometimes follow them
few miles away. There is distinct and curl
relationship between the tornado and the
general storm center which is always apparent
in their uniform relative positions the tornado
always occurring enthusiastically from the CEN
ter OF low barometeric pressure, at distance Of
from one TO six hundred miles The shape of
the general storm, and the appearance of the up
per and lower clouds, enter minor elements
into the problem out of which the weather ex-
perts hope to work complete system of tornado
warnings. The visits of the tornado are COM
monty between the hours of 2 and
o'clock in the afternoon. It's season extends
from April to August, inclusive. 1t is frequent
visitor in two other regions One is strip along
the guilt and the south Atlantic coasts, which
takes in the central portions of Alabama
Georgia and South Carolina, with termini in
Mississippi and North Carolina, over which its
devastations confined to the months of Janu-
ary, February and March. The other includes
portion of southern and central Ohio, large
part of Pennsylvania. a small area in Maryland,
strip across New York. and corner each of
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, where it is in
season only during the months of August and
September.
Lieutenant Finley further said that while a
host of interesting scientific questions respecting
the origin of tornadoes. the laws which govern
them and their relationship to other meteoro-
logical phenomena, remain to be answered, the
more practical questions as to when and where
they are likely to appear seem to be advancing
rapidly toward solution. The interests which
are subject to disaster from tornadoes are alive
to the Importance Of the work in progress. In
tending purchasers of farms apply to the Signal
Service for information respecting the liability
of their selected localities to disaster. Wher-
ever Lieutenant Finley travels in pursuit of his
study, farmers and villagers press for informa-
tion To these he says that nothing raised by
the hand of man above the surface of the earth
can Withstand the shock of tornado. He ad-
vises them to seek their dug-outs on the appear
ance of portentous signs of disaster and there
await the passage of the storms. For their
property he advises insurance, so that the
losses of the individual may be shared by his
more fortunate neighbors.