The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-02-07
U. S. WEATHER BUREAU .
Some Interesting and Instructive Obser
vatIons About the Objects Ii Seeks
and the Work IL Does
BY CLARENCE J. NORTON.
PART VIII.

In WrltlDg tneSe articles nave
drawn freely upon the printed matter
furnished me by the weather bureau,
and all the authors works in my pos
session, especially am l indebted to
Prof. J. r. Sage's works in the Mete-
geological Journal, the Monthly
Weather Review and other works.
In my last article 1 spoke of the
primary storms and now will pass to
the secondary storms. The law bar
ometer storms of this region, which
meteorological writers call cyclones, !"
should not be confOunded with the
secondary and destructive class of
storms properly termed tornadoes,
but enormously called cyclones by the
general public and the daily press.
In some general characteristic these
secondary storms are similar, but
there is an immense difference in size,
velocity of air movement and dura-
ton of the disturbance. The cyclones
usually effect the weather and gener-
ally generate storm conditions within
an area equal to number of States,
while the tornado is generally only a
few hundred feet in diameter. The
destructive work of tornado is u.s.
ually completed within one or two
minutes, but the cyclone moves slew
ly, taking two or three days in its
passage across the Mississippi valley.
Though Of great force within its
narrow pathway, the tornado belongs
to the miner or secondary class of
storms. And there should also be
placed in this class the hail and thun-
der storms, and wind squalls and
straight blows of local character and
short duration. These are all related
to or generally associated with cy-
clones. While it may not be correct
to say that tornadoes, thunder storms
and wind squalls are generated by cy-
clones, yet it is undoubtedly true that
they are all the products of the same
general causes, viz, heat, the action
of expanding and cOndensing water
vapor, the rotation of the earth and
the formation of atmospheric eddies-
There is certainly close relationship
existing between these primary and
secondary storms. 1t is well estab-
lished fact of observation that lorna
does derroneously called cyclones by
the press public,) are usually gener-
ated when they occur at all, within
the southeast .quadrants of low area
storms, or cyclones two or three hun
dred miles south east of the cyclone
center. So when the storm center
passes directly over us, there is prac-
Iically no danger of tornado actively
here. When the storm center passes
two or three hundred miles north
west of as, after a period of intense
heat AID strong, northerly winds,
then we may stand about one chance
IN million of being struck by a
whirler. At such times it is comfort
ing to have a handy storm cave, a
clear conscience, a receipt in full from
The printer and life insurance in the
WoodmaR. But genuine, death-deal-
ng tornadoes are exceptional pro-
ducts of the elements in this region,
and there is million-fold greater
that man will die of
disease or old age than that he will
be- whirled out ofexistepee by real
.ornado.
Thunder and hail storms with their
attendant squalls, may be considered
potential tornadoes, that is, the forces
which produce thunder and hail
storms act with greater intensity in
he production af tornadoes. In all
Ievere hail storms there are evidences
If strong ascending currents such as
ire observed in tornadoes. The ro-
AIRY movement in hail storms is evil
iently upon a horizontal axis, and in
ornadoes the axis of the whirl is YER
ical.
The reason why severe local storms
f the secondary class occur general
Y IN the south east quadrant of cy- |
lones, is undOu btedly because of the
much higher temperature of the air
md the greater amount of expanding
-apor in that portion Of the advanc-
ng low area. The close relation of |
ieat to all violent atmospheric dis
is well understood by those
Who have studied nature or the books
nd is the reason we do not have tor
ADDE'S in winter time.
The evidence of powerful up-lift-
1g force at the center of a tornado is