Wichita eagle., 1889-06-04

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I In General.
s'Talk of summer storms" said an ex
perienced meteorologist, 81 have bee
studying the origin and direction Of sue
storms for nearly forty years, from a
points of the compass, IN different eli
mates and from different attitudes.
have noted a number OF curious meteor
illogical disturbances and this one il
Stafford county. in southern Kansas, tn
other day was one OF them.
''Of course YOU refer to the cyclone re
Gently reported from that place."
= Yes; it was typical summer storm
of the rotary kind-violent, and yet o
short duration. 1t demolished every
thing in its course. Buildings were lev
eled and great trees uprooted. Only on
person was killed outright, but fit,
were injured, some OIL, whom are not ex
pected to survive, while the havo'
among live stock was fearful"
do not cyclones and tornadoes occu
in winter also.''
''They seldom do, and are much les
destructive than those occurring in spring
and summer. Both cyclones and lorna
does are more frequent and more violen
III the tropics than elsewhere.
WHAT TORNADO IS.
A tornado is always of comparatively
small breadth of sweep. 1t is simply {
revolving column or mass of air sup
posed with most probability to be pro
duced by the meeting of two currents Of
air blowing in opposite directions. WheI
the opposing currents have the same
uatnnitrr ho lott will no in,
tanned in the same spot. but if the mo-
ton of one of them is more rapid than
that of the other it will transport the
whirling motion with its excess Of celer'
ity, and the progressive and rotary mo-
ton are thus maintained at the same
time. The breadth of a tornado is sci
dom more than a few yards, but may
reach considerably over 300 yards"
WHAT A CYCLONE Is.
Now, cyclone is also'a kind Of whirl
wind for both are a whirlwinds although
differing in several respects. The cy
clonic storm moves in immense whirls,
sweeping onward rapidly. Cyclones are
sometimes from 200 to 800 miles III
diameter, and some have been known to
be over 1000 miles in diameter. But this
figure is rare; besides, theta exact meas
urement can not be ascertained. Their
central point is calm, and this moves
forward from two to forty miles an hour.
Imagine yourself in the center of one OF
those immense masses OF whlrling wind.
If you could remain in the center and
travel With the cyclone you would be
perfectly safe. but if you moved outside
the central calm you would be torn to
pieces.
On inquiring how large this central
calm spot might be my informant re-
piled:
THAT is question that no meteroli-
gist can answer. Nobody has ever been
there who ran with the cyclone. All
calculations on this point are merely
conjectures. These
WHIRLlNG STORMS
generally originate outside the equato-
rial belt, between the tropics, and move
towards the poles. In the southern
hemisphere the rotation is in the same
direction as the hands of watch placed
with the face upward. in the northern
hemisphere the direction is reversed, and
this was the case in the recent storm in
Kansas"
In reference to what is known as 'the
big wind in Ireland on January G.,
1889, the origin of which l inquired, he
said:
That was not cyclone. There was
nothing peculiar about it but its sever
ity. 1t was not a rotary, but a plain,
desolating storm. After origin
ating on the continent it swept over a
part of England and then Ireland, level
ing over 200 houses in the three towns of
Galway and Limerick, to say
nothing of the damage and loss of life
elsewhere. Dublin suffered dreadfully
while London scarcely sustained any
damage"
Whirlwinds often originate in the
tropics during the hot season, especially
in the fiat, sandy deserts. These becom-
ing unequally heated by the sun give
rise to ascending cfoumns of heated air.
In their contact with each other the as
cending currents result in eddies which
draw UP with them large clouds of dust,
and the whole is borne forward by the
wind blowing at the time. This is the
origin of the whirlwinds Of India.