Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-06-04
STUDYING TORNAnOES.
Work of the Signal Service Bureau on tho
Subject.

Work Of the Signal Service Bureau on the
Subject.
The signal o.Iice at Washington has
been making special study of the
facts repor, ed from the greay tornadoes
of April 14th by which the cities of st.
Cloud and SaUil Rapids, Mimi, were near
ly destroyed. 2 he far leat westerly APP
pes .ance o. tie sto m was at jamestown,
Dakota. The total psth o. the storm was
thirty-tive miles long, "a Dc. -oyed over
100000 worth of properly. At the same
time there was a storm Gt Ben.On. Mills
couT. y, Iowa, which proceeded in the same
general direction and passed through
dO-en towns in the course
of 11O mites. Anosher parallel storm
was noted at Wetmore, Kansas,
and Stella. Nebraska, and was traced for
about ,Airty miles. Another was re-
ported from Monroe, Missouri, about
thirty miles long. All these storms hap
pened Between five and eight O'Clock in
the evening. There was a unifOrT0 pro
ceseiOn from west TO east, the mos east
ern tOrnadoes occurring iour o" five hours
later tnan the western. The signal ser
vice peOpe are inclined to build theories
somewhat different from tho5e W lich have
been accepted with regard 10 tOTnadOes.
The pr.ncipal authority in tornadoes is
Pro-. Tt ri. He says that when On aC-
count o. greater leas, o. agreater amount
of GqIeous vapors, the atmosphere at
any place becomes more rare
than the surrounding portion, It ascends,
and the surrounding heavier atmosphere
flows n below to supply its place. while a
counter current rs is prod dced above.
As the lower strata Of atmOsphe gen
orally contain a certain quantity of
aqueous v-)or, which is condensed after
rising TO certain height and forms
clouds and rain. the calofic given out
in the condensation produces still
greater rarefactior. and CoIbtfulcss adds
very much to the c.stuTbance of ecuili-
brum, and to the motive power Of stJ-ms.
The signal of'ce finds t--e following o0-
jections II this theo-y: They say it de-
mands 4 more sEdden and complete mix
ing O. warm and cool air th2n ever
take piace in nature; that there so such
sudden rp-Ush % air due TO a possible
heating Dy Che SUI. While the eGrth's
surface MAJ become very hot, yet this in
tense neat never extends more han few
feet vertically. Balloon accents demon
strate this. Ile Sun heats a great surface
over earth. and Il FerroTs theory was
correct there woJ.d naturally be clopd for
nation and storms oveE a I1IGe egion;
whereas storms 7sem TO develop along
ce-.-in lines fIon southeast 20 northeast,
and are not gene cal'v oyt. arr large re-
gion. Storms are not stationary, but have
a well defined course and move exactly
as if propelled by some Io-ce as part
of the cause OF TIE storm rather
than by successive upsettinGs of equilio-
rum from place place. mother fact
is taat storms generally arise about half
pas To zee O'Clock m the afternoon-just
lit { after the hottest part Of the day
and work eastward wzen It becomes cool
er. II there was to De any u ,)heayel Of
equiI 01iGm owing % the SUMS heat, it
would sem thas it o., 1t TO ts-e place
under the ~un and ros seven or eight
hours after the sun had passed. Further
more, Pro. Ferrils t4eory requires a
rarefaction o. air Immediately Ia front of
the advancing storm. while ne obserya
tio1 % the signal office ghows that there
is no such rarefaction but. on the contrary,
a dense pressure preceding the storm.
The relief of the signal service Is that a
tornado Is the extreme development of a
thunder storm, accompanied by intense
electrical N manifestations and sudden in
crease Il pressure and os wind blowing
suddenly ard powerfully from the direc-
tion of the tornado. II is believed that
these tornadoes are the result of peculiar
electrical conditions IN the ripper air.
The signal bureau has -,om time % time
recommended that there would be great
saving Of lie if people would tale rea-
sonable p-ecausiors. A town with a 1or-
est Immediately south ard west of it has
pretty fair protection from destruction.
ALI towns during the tornado season could