The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-23
GALEElOF THE TROPICS.
Forces Tint Originate in the Sea
Near the Equator.

AFTER tHe hottest season OF the yeti- iHo9e
with which Americans are most familiar
generally oee,ir in August. September, or
October. and, make their first appearance
in or near the West Indies. At this period
the trade winds have caused an aecumu-
lation of hot surface water at the west
ern limit of the ocean in low ATTITUDES,
and out of this steaming caldron, whose
temperature ranges from 80 to 30 degrees
are generated storms like that wnicn mas
just almost annihilated Galveston
These hurricanes snow a disposition to
follow certain typical track. At hrst
their movement is nearly westward, under
the influence of the trade winds, put they
seek to push northward, and, having done
so, they are caught by the great eastward
upper current of atmosphere and turned
in almost the opposite direction. me
curve described is a gentle one ana Is
sharpest in about latitude % or ~ de-
grees. Sometimes the storm continues on
its westward way until it reaches the CUR
of Mexico, but more often it 'recurves SO
as to follow the Atlantic Coast from FLOR
ida to Hatteras. Thence, as rule, IL
swings away toward Northern Europe. fol-
lowing the Gulf Stream very closely.
In exceptional cases these tropical hpr-
rieanes are diverted to the left hand suffi-
GENTLY to be felt seriously on the New Jer-
sey and Long Island coasts. Sometimes
the centre keeps just inside the coast line.
Again, the recurvature may occur so FAR TO
the eastward that the Bermudas suffer
and the United States is entirely exempt
What was known as the Nova Scotia cy-
clone" and what Greedy described as the
most destructive storm of this type known
to America. occurred in 1875, and did prac-
tically no damage on land, but it destroy
ed no less than / 233 vessels of different
kinds and caused the deaths of 600 people.
The chief characteristic OF tropical hur-
.icanes is their high wind velocity. No
storm of temperate ATTITUDES ever devel
ops such appalling fury. There are few
places in the Interior Of the United States
where the wind ever blows more than for
ty or fifty miles an hour; but in West
Indian cyclone velocities of eighty, ninety,
and one hundred miles are not uneom-
mon, and in 1897 at Cape Lookout, n. g.
the thermometer registered 1873. At sea
this means the destruction of small yes
sells and often proves fatal TO large ones;
on land it means the demoii:;S1 of weak
edilices and damage to crops, and where
the contour of the shore favors such an OPP
Grafton continued gales of exceptional force
bank up the sea Ave. ten, and even fifteen
feet higher than usual
This last phenomenon should be distin-
that sometimes accompanies a hurricane
but which is momentary AFFAIR. surge
rising from ten to fifty feet will some
times rush in toward land when a tropical
storm is prevailing. working inconceivable
disaster within a few minutes. Ships are
torn from their anchorages and hurled
ashore, to remain high, If not dry, hun
dreds of yards from the water Small yes
sells have thus been landed in tree tops
in the Bahamas. A storm wave that
swept the Ganges delta in 1864 drowned
forty-five theusapd persons. and another
in 1876 no less than one hundred thou
sand, fh eol
During the early stages of their history
tropical cyclones rarely advance more
:han eight or ten miles an hour. At that
time their diameter is small generally be-
tween one hundred and two hundred miles.
After reaching higher ATTITUDES and re-
curving, they expand somewhat. and
their progress is more rapid. Eight full
days elapsed after the recent hurricane
was detected to the south of Porto Rico
before Galveston felt il. Another pecu-
liarity of this class of disturbances is the
remarkable fall In the barometer that ac
companies them From the outside to the
centre. or calm eye of the storm" the
distance may not be more than fifty miles,
passage of the hurricane over a given
spot from the vicinity of 80 inches to 2I.5
Greedy mentions case in which the ba-
rometer at Guadalupe fell from 1913 to
27.9 in seventy minutes. Much lower
readings than this have been observed.
however Few storms of temperate lati-
tudes ever affect the barometer to a great
er extent than half an inch. and even this
change is far more gradual than with a
hurricane, owing to the much greater
breadth of northern depressions Torrents
of rain. often amounting to three or four
inches a day. and sometimes even more.
usually fall while tropical storm is pre-
/ vailing.
| a West Indian hurricane is circular in
form. Hence Piddington applied % them
| the name ''cyclone." derived rom the same
root as that found in bicycle" Some
| fierce discussions have been conducted over
| the direction of the wind with reference
I to the centre. Piddington and Redfeld
| thought that the wind blew in circles
| around ghe latter. Espy held that it aimed
! straight for the centre. The truth lies be-
/ tween the two suggestions. The air moves
/ in an inward spiral. and its course forms
4 a considerable angle, with tangent to the
| circle Eliot, who has carefully studied
! the storms of the Indian Ocean. and Toyn-
! bee. of the British naval service. have
made very careful computations of this
angle.
The question is one of immense practical
! importance to the mariner who finds him
| self entagled in the outer edges of such a
whirl. with a proper knowledge of the
/ anatomy Of a hurricane he can determine
| the position OF its centre from the direction
of the wind From the latitude he can
conjecture the course which the storm is
| following. He can then SO navigate his
/ ship as TO get out of the destroyar's path
1 as soon as possible.
I The typhoon OF the Orient is an own sis
ter OF the West India cyclone. 1t is gen.
Grated in low latitudes, late in the SUNNI er
| or early in the autumn, at the western
edge of the Pacific not far from the Phil
| ippines 1t begins its career by moving
westward, but in time returns to the coast
| of China and Japan. Storms of precisely
| the same character develop in the North
| Indian Ocean and assail the eastern coast
! of Hindostan often advancing up the Bay
| of Bengal to Calcutta. The Southern Henri
/ sphere also has such Disturbances. They
are rare or unknown in the South Atlantic.
but are common in the South Indian Ocean
and South Pacific. Their course is at first
westward. but in recurring to higher lati-
tudes they swing around to the southeast.
not to the northeast. Again. in that part
OF the world il is summer when this coun-
try is having winter. Hence tropical hurri-
/ canes t'.7re are most numerous in Febru-
airy and March.
1t was in the latter month of 1889 that a
! memorable typhOon swept over the Samoan
| Islands. moving so slowly that its influence
was felt for portions of three days. Six
| ships of the American and foreign navies
/ and ten merchant vessels dragged their an
chors in the harbor of Apia. and were eth