The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-20

the inf1owing current at the surface
becomes much marked until vast re-
gion of air is brought under the inf1u-
ence of an embryo hurricane. There
is an upper horizontal flow of air from
these disturbances which carries with
it cirrus clouds. These spread far in
advance and are the forerunners of the
approaching storm.
Several hours before these precursors
reach the eye of the observer the at
mosphere becomes very quiet and hazy.
Often almost a dead calm exists. The
barometer begins to rise, and all con-
ditions point to period Of fair wealth
er. This is the lure of the storm mon
ster to deceive the unwary shipmastsr.
The oceans shores are lined with the
bones of ships that took no warning
from that bright, dead calm and rising
barometer. The experienced mariner
in the tropical and seni-troDical seas
becomes uneasy. keeps his weather eye
out, pays close heed to his glass, and
has all hands ready for an emergency.
Soon the air becomes slightly hazy.
Far aloft the flying scud of the lawn
like cirrus clouds streams up to the
zenith. A surface breeze springs up,
moving in the opposite direction from
the flow of the spreading clouds. The
breeze is being drawn toward the CEN
Ter Oh the SUI AAi' AS wilma
brisks up; the barometer begins to sag,
and presently ominous black clouds
darken the horizon, and the hurricane
is in sight.
1t is not long after the rotary mo-
ton of the central column of warm air
sets in that the storm moves from It's
place of formation in westerly course,
contrary to the movement of storms in
a more northerly latitude. The west
erly movement terminates when the
storm center reaches the neighbor-
hood of twenty-five or thirty degrees
north latitude and comes within the
influence of the prevailing south and
west winds. 1t then recurves to the
northeast. The recurves may bring the
center in the neighborhood of the West
Gulf, or possibly to the east of Florida
in the Atlantic. The storm center then
follows a course nearly parallel with
the gulf stream and continues that
course northeastward until beyond the
region of observation. 1t is now an
enormous whirlpool of wind moving
northward at express train speed,
sometimes taking not more than twen-
ty-four hours in passing from the Gulf
of Mexico into the North Atlantic.
In some cases these storms pass in
land over the gulf states to the great
lakes and then out the st. Lawrence
valley, losing force in travelling over
land. 1t is seldom that they retain
their power if the storm center passes
inland to the west of the Mississippi
river. They display their worst ele-
ments of wind and rain on or near the
coast. They apparently exhaust them
selves before passing any great dis
lance inland, and become mere atmos-
pheric depressions until they reach the
lake region, where they are supplied
with moisture and REGAIN some Of
their former energy and pass out the
st. Lawrence valley or over the New
England states to the Atlantic coast
with considerable force. There is no
port on the Atlantic coast that has
not its roster of missing ships, victims
of these great disturbances
Hurricanes are characterized by very
heavy rainfall and great wind violence.
Their greatest force is experienced be-
fore they recurve to the northeast. Aft
er this they increase in diameter and
their forceis accordingly diminished.
but extends over large area Their
progressive motion is somewhat in
creased by their conformation being
broken in passing over the land. over
the ocean they retain their circular
form, but their advance is slightly
diminished by greater rotary force
Wind velocities in well defined hurri-
canes may range from fifty to $50 miles
an hour; the higher velocities gener-
ally occurring over the ocean. The d.
ameter of these storms varies from a
Few hundred miles to $500 or 1000 miles.
The center of disturbance or eve of
the storm is marked by an extremely
low atmospheric pressure. During the
passing of the center the barometer
generally shows a slight rise, the at
mosphere clears and there is a COM
parative calm. To all appearances the
storm has passed. This condition NAV
last an hour or two, when all of a
sudden the wind, which has been in
this brief period idly shifting from one
point to another, blows a gale from a
southerly quarter, then rapidly shifts
to the west and finally to the north
west. The storm center has passed
but the wind will probably blow with
greater fury from the latter Quarter
than it did before the storm center
was reached. This gale from the
northwest may last for hours. accord
ing to the rapidity with which the ba-
rometer rises. The faster it goes IN
the more severe will be the blow: but
the sooner it will be over. Exceeding
ly heavy rainfall marks the passage of
these storms, and covers a wide area of
country. The major part of the fan is
usually deposited in the Southern
states or along the Atlantic coast.