The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-06-24
POWERS OF THE AIR.
STORM FREAKS AND STRANGE CA
PRICES OF THE WIND.
Atmospheric Enigmas and Unprotected
Galcs-whirlwind Franks and Tornados.
sandstorns and Observation-Disclosures
ena as Noted by DIR. Oswald.
LSpecinl Corrcspondonco.l


CINCINNATI, Juno 5-The belief in wealth
g. hays fingered for years after tho decline
Of the popular witchcraft dclusion, and the
philosophy of storm phenomena Is indeed
one OF the most puzzling problems Of
science. Cold winters, hot summers and
droughts have been successfully predicted
but storm seasons like that of the present
year como nearly always unexpected, and
the settlers of our western prairie states
complain that the most destructive lorna
does break out without an hours warming
The direction of such storms is equally
difficult to predict, though experience has
confirmed rather than explained the fact
chat there are hurricane regions visited by
specially violent and frequent gales just as
there arc trees That seem to attract the
lightning of every local Thunderstorm
Judging from the analogies of artificial
air currents, the defiles of mountain valleys
might be supposed to be the scenes of the
most vehement storms, just rs funnel
shaped windSail can turn Il faint breeze into
draft brisk enough to make the ham,
mocks of the cockpit fiuttcr A quantity
OF gunpowder sufficient to fling n cannon
ball mile and half will go off with n
harmless puff i'll an open pan. but the pneu-
matte effects of the storm wind seem to be
produced on the opposite plan. The whr-
winds of mountain gorges are mere zephyrs
compared with the hurricanes that sweep
the plains of our western tablelands, and
where the ocean borders lowland coast,
as in the Chinese sea, gales rage with VIC
lence-to use the words of an eyewitness
as if heaven and earth were going to return
to their original chaos,
And the premonitory symptoms of such
storms appear to be moro legible to savages
and sea birds than to the managers of mete-
geological observatories. A few hours be-
fore the roar of the storm which last April
silenced all other booms of the Oklahoma
settlers there had been n slow, drizzling
rain, with occasional shifts Of wind, which
made the weather sages remark that it was
"going to clear up for another frost before
long" 1t got darker instead and under
cover of a thickening mist explosive clouds
seemed to have gathered from all directions,
and the first blast of the tornado surprised
travellers In the open prairie and campers
In tents, which minute after whirled away
on the wings of the storm.
Captain Trelawney, who accompanied the
poet Shelley on that fatal cruise in the gulf
of Spezzia, had plowed salt water for years,
but saw no danger in the signs of the sky
when he allowed his friend to leave port in
an open boat, though he admits that their
Genoese mate had warned them of impend-
ing trouble. "Thero was very little wind
Shelley and Byron" but they relied on tho
land breeze and had fair chance to cross
the gulf before morning Maybe they will
have too much breeze said my Genocse
pilot. Look at that smoke on the water
The devil is brewing mischief
There was n sea fog in which Shelley's
boat was soon after envelopcd, and we saw
nothing more of her. The sea was of the
color and looked as solid and smooth as a
sheet Of lead, and big drops of rain falling
OIL the surface rebounded az if they could
notpenetratcit. Fishing smacks rushed by
In shoals and not a minute too soon, for in
the midst of the din and hubbub came the
crashing voice of thunder squall that
burst right over our heads''
AT Shelley's villa, not more than 30 miles
away, the weather Ind continued fair all
that afternoon. One of the strange fea-
lures of sudden storms is the narrow limit
OF their TRACK which in the pine forests Oh
our continent often resembles II swath cut
with the edge of an aX-thousunds of trees
covering the ground Oh strip of land four
or five miles long by less than n hundred
broad. and not a dry branch broken IL few
steps 10 the left or right of tho chaotic lum-
Der pile.
The path OF the hurricane that struck the
center OF Eastland county, Tex. few
weeks ago resembled the current of a
straight and rather narrow river. Cisco, the
county seat was swept almost out of cx-
1stence. and 10 miles farther west the force
of the tornado was still sufficient to uproot
stout walnut trees, but farmsteads n few
hundred miles north and south of that
track got off with common rainstorm,
and ut many points only eight miles from
the center of devastation no rain ut all fell,
though the night was rather dark and
g,isty. Near the western border of the
county the path of the storm turned alb
ruptly some two miles to the right-thc
north-and then resumed its original direc-
ton and exhausted its fury in the gullcs
OF happily sparsely settled tablcland