Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-07
CYCLONES AND RLIZZA RDS. Geld Facts About Them Not Generally
 Underztoed.

There are no words in the English language more consistently overworked and misinter- preted than "cyclone" and blizzard" says the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Fitting in with the universal desire for sensationalism and the disposition to accommodate it by hyper bole, each of these words in it's season comes to be SO overloaded with work that, to one half the people, it conveys no impression at all, and to the other one distinctly and wrongfully exaggerated. We understand how, by this magnifying of every little wind storm to the proportions of a tornado, cer- tain territory in the West has come to have reputation that it does not deserve, and to possess to the nonresident terrors which it's own inhabitants never imagined. Through the same circle of imitation the word "bliz- gard" is on it's travels, helping to confirm, in the minds of those who still believe that the Great American Desert covers & great part of Dakota, an equally firm conviction that the Northwest in winter is storm swept by win ter gales before which no animal alive can stand.
 Uniform as the verbal concession thus made to the necessity for making oat 8 stir ring news report, there has seldom been an instance of the abuse of this word so palpA- ble and fragrant as that which is now going the rounds, describing the storm that pre- vailed throughout the Northwest a few days ago as blizzard" This appli- cation is worse than absurd. The snow storm of Thursday was exactly such as are frequent during the winter months in southern New York and in Pennsylvania
 The fall was unusually heavy for this seo-
 tion at this season of the year. It came punches of wool. It was partially melted, clinging to the clothing and exuding mois- ture as it fell. And for 24 hours after the fall ceased the temperature remained, as \ it stood during nearly all of the snowfall, above the freezing point. Tho storm had irak oh fo good sailing breeze to tornado, or e mill race to 6 waterspout
 Of all the people familiar with the word
 ''blizzard,' '' probably not one in thousand ever saw anything remotely resembling the thing which the word was coined to describe the definition of the term is best supplied by personal experience. A blizzard means something as nearly as possible like the sand storm of the desert, with pulverized ice in place of sand, and 8 temperature as many degrees below freezing as the other marks well defined. They are very low tempera- ture, never in the genuine blizzard rising above the zero point; tremendous wind ve- locity, equal to that of the most violent gales of the stormy season at sea; and the filling of the air with needle points of ice, which blind the eyes and cut and sting like minia- ture arrows wherever they strike. This is the storm which benumbs, bewilders and de- stroys life in it's path. It has been felt in
 rare instances by the settlers on the treeless plains of the North. It seems rather singu- larly to occur less frequently as population and cultivation increase. There are compar- atively few people in Minnesota who have ever had personal acquaintance with it. In- deed, to-day it is much rarer than 8 cyclone, ! as it is infinitely less to be dreaded; since there is some warning of it's approach, and 1t | is harmless to those who have found shelter. There will probably be blizzards in the Northwest in the future, as there will be
 earthquakes in New York; the one just about as frequent, and with the increase of settle ment, about as dangerous as the other Not only, however, is it an abuse of language to use the word of even the severest snow storm, but 1t is gratuitous islander upon 8 winter climate which is neither intemperate nor unhealthful. The correspondents and reporters should give the cyclone and bliz- gard rest.