Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-05-28


creasing disturbance; force enough
is obtained to do all the work tor
nadoes can do. The steamy. boil
ing cloud in the southwest and the
blue-black cloud in the northwest
come together and the tornado de-
sends. The motive force Is from
above downwards. The cloud is
thrust to earth. The whirl is
formed high in air. Tornadoes
occur in high regions that never
reach earth. Why some come
down and some do not is unknown,
but possibly dependent upon the
force of the whirl engendered
above. The hail storm is a lorna
do above the surface of the
ground" Lieut.. Finley's stock of
information is unsurpassed. His
enthusiasm, earnestness and indus
try are unceasing, yet this theory
has to find its sources so high in
the air that there is q shade of
doubt over it. Within the reach
of the eye and instruments the
cold air does not always come and
the moist south wind Will not al
ways be there to endorse his the.
Dry. We had no hot air, moisture
laden, and no cold rush in the
wake of the storm, but the con-
trary. IAN entirely competent,
able and learned gentleman will
have it that the source of all tor
nadoes is in dust whirls. He DEM
onstrated that a whirl of 300 feet
diameter will give a velocity equal
to any work a tornado will do. He
found the dust whirl that original
ed the Marshfeld tornado in the
corner of a fence, but has found no
more of them. A tornado comes
from above downward. 1t comes
with its forces marshalled for all
the Ill it a do. Time, patience
and facts may unravel the riddle,
but even if known, the suffering
and damage may yet be unavoid-
able. We do know that a small
cellar will save life and property il
there is timely notice, which is al
ways the case on prairies. Is any
one, then, doing his duty to family
and self by n~eglecting to provide
so cheap a defence? II you have
no cave, five minutes run to south
or northwest will almost always
put one out of danger. If the cloud
is much south, run to north or
northwest. If south of west, OF
west, run to south. 1t will move
from southwest to northeast. The
signal service urges every one to
provide a place of safety. Lieut..
Finley says ''every man can and
should construct a tornado cave at
some suitable point, convenient to
his house. The cave would be al
ways useful on a farm or tor a fam
lily. Many lives have been saved
ny them. The suffering of man.
gled humanity may be worse than
death. Some of the reports are
hldeous in this respect. 1t is easy
to laugh when danger Is afar, but
not at all funny, when neglect has
brought suffering and death. The
signal service has never PROFOUND
ed or endorsed a theory, but has
devoted time and labor solely to
gathering facts. 1t seems now to
have as many facts as it can wres-
tie with. The service was shy for
years of predicting tornadoes. 1t
finally tried it, but now only pre-
diets severe local storms, allowing
each locality to do the predicting
for tornadoes. A few things are
established. Tornadoes never &C.
cur except when an area of low ba-
rometer is crossing from west 10
east. They almost invariably &C.
cur in the southeast quadran. Of
the low area. The low area that
determined the Louisville tornado
lay between st. Louis and Spring
field, Ill. The tornado at Read
ing, Pa, Jan, 1889, was de.erm-
ined by a low ares on Lake Erie.
Tornadoes almost, if not always
have their twisting motion the re-
verse of that of a watch. Ninety
five per cent. move from south
west to northeast. Hail almost in-
variably accompanies them. In
ninety-three per cent severe light
ming accompanies the storm, but
rarely il at all in the storm cloud.
The peculiar features of the Au-
drain tornado are: The rate OF
progress was slow; eleven in 6I
tornadoes were known to progress
as slowly. The direction was due
east, with southeriy tendency, 81
& per cent move from southwest te
f northeast. The plastering of mud
on hedges and posts ia uncommon.
The washing of grass az though
body of water passed over 1t, hal
occurred but seldom. The brown
ing Or backing of tips of leaves 81
though by heat has occurred but i,
not constant. The temperature
that day and preceding days wa.
! comparatively low. The white
! ! streak seen was unusual, as alse