Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-06-26
The Genesis Of Our New ENGLAND
Cyclonic Storms.

The common cyclone of temperate
ldutudes is essentially an up-draft eddy
in the stream of one of the great perma-
nent winds of the earth. Such a whirl
I'VE hundred to one thousand miles in
diameter, is swept along, ten to forty
miles an hour. by the general eastward
movement of the great circumpolar wind.
The centre of this eddy is an area of
low barometric pressure and of ascend
ing air currents, where the air is cooling
as 1t rises and in consequence forming
cloud. rain or snow. The air after it
rises at the storm centre flows out hori-
zontally i'm all directions and its place
Is supplied by an inflow from all sides
along the ground. Next the earth. then.
the wind blows everywhere toward the
storm centre, not. however directly, but
always in the northern hemisphere, with
"A counter clockwise whirl. 49,. Two
instinct sets of these cyclones affect New
England the one our ordinary winter
storm. the other the violent coast storms
of autumn and late summer. The first
of these may originate in the Rocky
Mountains or somewhere in the south
western part of the United States. They
may, on the other hand, start i'm the
northern Pacific or even in Asia and
reach North America with their centres
about on the boundary between the Unit
ed States and British America. In any
case. they travel east or northeast to
the region of the Great Lakes. From
there they are likely to continue along
the. St Lawrence valley and across New
ioundland These winter storms
recur with curious regularity. as a
usual thing six or eight days apart Few
New Englanders have failed to notice
how often it rains on the same day for
weeks at a time.
For an observer, located at any part
n Naxn H..
sage of cyclone of either type is mark
ed by a pretty regular sequence of wealth
er changes In continued fair wealth
er the wind blows from the west. This
Is, of course, the regular planetary wind
of the temperate zone. unaffected by the
presence of any storm. but often accom-
panied by a settling down of cold air
from the higher layers of the atmos-
phere. The first heralds of an approach
ing cyclone are thin wisps Of cirrus cloud
These mares tails as they are called
by the weather wise, are made up of
ice needles, for these are the most ele-
waited of clouds and keep to the region
of eternal cold, six or eight miles above
the earth. They are the last remnants
of moisture which have escaped conden-
sation into rain or snow near the storm
centre, and are carried along by the
horizontal out flow of air at the top Of
the storm and by the permanent west
wind After the mares tail
clouds comes the easterly wind. If the
coming storm IS of the ordinary winter
type, the east wind will begin to make
itself felt in New England about as the
storm reaches the lake region.
From any point in New England the
storm centre is thus either directly west.
or somewhat north or south of west, and
the in-draft towards it appears various
~ as a northeast, east or southeast wind.
In any case. If the storm follows the
usual track to the north of New Eng
land, the wind is likely to get into the
southeast by the time the rain area ar
riVes. This southeast wind comes from
a region far to the south and blows for
a long distance over the sea; IL is there
fore warm and moist. Thus it is never
very cold during a winter snowstorm
though earlier 1t may have been too
cold to snow" This southeast wind
brings most of the water vapor which
makes the clouds and rain. But the
whirl of the storm carries this moist
air around to the east side so that the
greater part Of the rain is always or
the front side OF the advancing cyclone
Edwin Tenny Brewster.