The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-07-05
CYCLONES ANO roRNADogs.
names Given 20 Destructive and sinsular
Freaks Of Nature.

names Given 20 Destructive and singulnE
Freaks Of Nature
Especial Correspondence~
CHICAGO, June 28.-Although the tels-
graph has already told Of some destruc-
zion OF property and loss Of life from
devastating winds, yet unless this year
proves to be an exception to the rule
that has obtained during the past decade
the trouble has not yet begun in dead
earnest.
The name .scyclone" has been applied
for 90 many years now to the twisting
storms that sweep across q state In day.
leaving dismantled buildings, PROSTATE
forests and bleeding, hfeless bodies ia
their track, that it is probably too late
to effect the general adoption Of the
proper title for such atmospheric dis
turbances. Nevertheless it cam 90 ne
harm to call attention to the fact that
the proper word is tornado and not CO.
clone.
A cyclone is a storm, the most aotive
area Of which is on the outer edge Of 6
vast circle, at the center Of which there
is a region of comparative-some timeA
absolute-calm. Cyclones never form om
travel over the land, as the proper atmca-
pheric conditions never develop there
They usually form in the gulf of MEXICO
and travel from there in q northeasterly
direction, following almost the same
path as that of the gulf stream. Not in-
frequently the western edge Of eye
clone, SO formed and so travelling.
touches the Atlantic and gulf coasts, and
the destructive storms that worked such
havoc in the sea islands last summer
were of this description.
A tornado is a whirling, twisting
storm, with its greatest activity at the
center, where also more damage 1a
wrought than elsewhere. The path Of 8
cyclone may be and usually IS several
hundred miles broad. The path Of a tor-
nado is rarely more than mile. and ita
destructive course usually but few rods
wide. In one sense the tornado, in ita
limited path, is far more destructive
than the cyclone, for 1t sometimes liter-
ally pulverizes everything with which ie
comes in contact. Practically one is as
bad as the other, for if your house is to
be destroyed it matters not whether 81 %
torn to bits by a rapidly gyrating force
like tornado, or blown TO fragments bY
a practically straight wind like eye
clone, for the arc of the cyclones circle
is so great that the curvature Of the wind
is not noticeable at any one place
While the cyclone is an essentially sea
storm and is never found on land, though
its edges sometimes do shore damage, tho
tornado is often formed at sea, where.
however, it is called a waterspout The
waterspout is not perhaps so dangerous
to shipping as the tornado is to buildings
and forests, for it may often be disaipat-
ed by a shot from a cannon, while a tor
nado's course may not be stopped by this
means.
Another destructive form Of wind Is
known to the signal service as the hurri-
cane, though hurricanes are often de-
ecribed as cyclones in Conversation and
newspaper dispatches. The hurricane IS
a simple straight wind blowing at a rate
exceeding so miles an hour. In practi-
cal effect it is almost as bad as either the
tornado or the cyclone, for the force of
moving air when it reaches such ter-
rife speed as so miles an hour, whether
it be direct. circling or rotatory, IS great
enough to destroy houses and blow down
forests.
Tornadoes do not often visit the re-
gions Of the Rocky mountains because
of the great altitude there. The height
of the Allegheny mountains being much
less, tornadoes are not very infrequen6
there. The season of most frequent tor
nadoes in the middle Atlantic states is
August and September, in the south At
1antic states February, March and April,
and in the west May, June and july
The little whirlwinda, familiar every
where, are not little tornadoes. Tho
latter come from above and sometime
do not touch the earth at all, while the
whirlwinds rise from the earth ia every
instance. G. q. BoLLEa.