The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-03-17
ELKTON. MARCH II, 1888.
Cyclones and Billiards..

Cyclones and Billiards..
1t is only the possessor OF the latest
edition of Webster's Unabridged Die
tlonary who will find in it a definition
of the word "cyclone," and he will look
in vain in it for the word "bllzzard,"
the latter being as yet too new word
for adoption by the photographers. 1t
was not until the summer of 1885 that
we learned by actual experience In
Cecil county what a cyclone really was.
On the afternoon of Monday, the third
of August, in that year, one of these
atmospheric visitations which Webster
defines as ''rotatory storm, or whirl-
wind of extended circuit" struck this
county in the section of it lying between
the North East and Elk rivers, known
as Elk Neck. This is high ridge OF
land of varying width, it being not more
than two miles wide at Harris Chapel,
the starting point of this cyclone. The
path of this storm was little west of
north, embracing a width in its course
of about hundred yards. 1t passed
west of Elkton some little distance,
taking IN its course wilma Mills and
Leeds, at which points it was severest,
its force being spent as 1t passed north
wards towards the Pennsylvania line.
Previous to this date, the popular
notion had been in Eastern Maryland,
in fact in all the Atlantic States, that
these rotatory storms known in the
extreme West as "cyclones," were con-
fined exclusively to prairie countries,
or at least to sections of the United
States west of the Allegheny Mountains,
and to tropical countries, where similar
wind storms, generally accompanied
with thunder and lightning, had always
been known simply as whirlwinds. But
the term "cyclone" as a specific name
for particular kind OF wind storm,
and indicating one with rotatory
motion in contradistinction from that in
which the wind blows steadily or in
gusts from one direction only, seems
to be strictly of American origin, and
to have been until recently applied to
those severe whirlwinds SO prevalent
particularly west of the Mississippi
River. But the area of this class of
storms seems to be extending itself, and
the extreme West is no longer to enjoy
strictly monopoly Of them. AS our
readers are aware the town of Mount
Vernon, Illinois, was recently destroyed
by one. While it is no doubt the fact
thai the genuine cyclone will be felt the
most severely in prairie sections of this
country, where from the absence OF OBJ
structions in the shape of hills and trees
they have clean sweep, still as recent
experience shows even in Maryland
milder types of them may be looked for
anywhere. What the changing condi-
tons are that in this section render US
more liable than formerly to cyclones |
and blzzards we have no we'll defined |
opinion to express. Whether ii be at
tributable to the cutting down of origi- |
nal forest growths. which certainly rem
ders US more liable to drouthS and |
floods, we are not prepared to hazard |
an opinion. But certain it is, that along
our Atlantic seaboard, climatic changes
seem to be taking place, which result
IN disturbed and irregular seasons, and
in unusual and phenomenal storms. AS
the science of meteorology becomes
better understood, well-detined and
reasonable causes may be discovered
for these changes.
Until recently, as in the case of
cyclones, so IN the case of those in
tensely bitter winter storms called
billiards." the popular notion has
limited them to the extreme West. 1t
is undoubtedly true that the original
blizzard, clad in all its native ferocity,
must be restricted to the higher lati-
tudes of prairie or of plateau lands. As
storm king he is in every sense as
sudden and precipitate as his cyclone
congener. But there is no roundabout
or circuitous character about a biz
card. Old Boreas when he comes in
this disguise blows straight and hard.
Our proximity to the ocean, and the
presence of a saline atmosphere are in
Maryland our best projections against
this rude and ruthless enemy of man.
1t is in the high and dry atmospheres
of the upper Missouri and Mississippi
where the native blizzard revels IN
death and destruction of human and
animal life. When conditions favor, the
storm center is shifted further south
and east, and the dwellers amid the
dampness and fogs of the Atlantic
coast, where the east wind blows laden
with the breath of pestiferous pneu-
monia, get frosty touch of the western
storm king.
Such was the case on Sunday night
last, when we felt about our ears the
sting of an unspent Dakota blizzard. 1t
was revelation of the possibilities that
lay in the reckless March CD welcom-
ing the advent of his boisterous brother
fresh from Alaska. He howled, he
shrieked, "as if cursed with an inward
pain" Discomfort in doors, discomfort
on the street, discomfort on the rail,
discomfort everywhere, marked his
coming. He wasn't welcome. Mary !