The Forrest City times., 1909-05-07
Sold and Recommended by
 l. T. SANDERS.
Definition of Storms Given.

Because of the frequency and de- structiyeness of storms in the vicinity of Memphis. and the interest snbse- quent to that frequency and destruc tiyeness. it might be of interest to the survivors of communities visited by these devastating winds to know just what il was that struck them. Was it tornado CT cyclone? This question is being discussed ill news paper and other offices and in order to settle these disputes the Commercial Appeal has secured information from the highest weather authorities.
 When asked for his definition Of the two storms, $. (. Emery, the local fOrecaster Of the weather bureau, re- ferred to the definition of Willis L. Moore. chief of the weather bureau of the United States, which k given in his meteorological almanac.
 Especially do l wish to emphasize the distinction between the eyelonic storm and the tornado, says Mr Moore. "The press and nine -tenths of the people who should know better, use these terms synonymously. The cyclone is horizontally revolving disc of air covering an area 1000 to 2000 miles in diameter, while q tor nado is a revolving mass of air only loo to 1000 feet in diameter, and is simply an incident of the cyclone, nearly always occurring in the south east quadrant. The cyclone may cause moderate or high winds through vast expanse of territory, while the tornado with rotary motion that is immeasurable, always leaves trail of death and destruction in an area that is inhnitesimal in comparison with the area covered by the cyclone,
 The tornado is the most violent of all storms, and is more frequent in the central valleys of the Enited States than elsewhere It has char acteristics that distinguish il from the thunder storm. viz, a pendant, funnel-shaped cloud, and d violent vertical rotary motion in direction contrary 10 the movements of the hands on watch, together with a violent updraft in the center,
 MT Moore submits q photograph of tornado al Cottage City, Mass. and points out the four essential condi- tions as follows:
 A cyclone or area of low pressure. the center of which is to the north or northwest with a barometic pres sure not necessarily much below the normal; temperature of about 70 de grees on the morning weather map; great humidity, and that lIe time of year be April to July l. These con ditions may, and often do, exist sepa- rately; two or three of them may be found co-eXisting, but so long as one of the four be absent tornado forma- tion is not likely 10 occur.
 The reason that spring and early summer is the time when tornadoes occur is probably because the earth and thin strata of air immediately above the earth are heating up rap idly, and the air short distance from the earth is still cold from the effects of winter. At this time cy clonic action brings together air masses of widely different tempera- ture, especially when the upper layers on the west side of the cyclone are brought down and commingled with the hot surface winds of the south east quarter
 The word storm k the broad term and covers any kind of wind and its accompaniments: hurricane is simi- lar term.-M Memphis Commercial Ap- peal.