Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-27
More TornadOes
Than atAny Time
Since 1884
Whining Winds Move in Psral.
lei Lines Toward the North
east at Speed of Twenty II
Fifty Miles an Hour.

MY 4NAuCo oil 1Ouf
By GARRETT P. sERvIss
MOT since 1884 has there ha.,
N such an outburst Of tornado
storms as that which occur
red in the middle West. West ava
South this month.
A full-fledged tornado is the mos.
awe-inspiring meteor tbst 60
sweeps through the atmosnbar.
An ordinary tempest Greens u,on
its victims by more gradusl sters
gains strength by degrees. cover,
the whole country for hundreds =,
miles around with its indefinite
shadow. and seems only a common
storm that has developed unusual
power.
An Atmospheric Demon.
But a tornado is a kind Of a..
mospheric demon, whose black dis.
torted form can be seen swiftly an.
preaching from far off, wbirIipv
and dancing like a gigantic deryish
and tearing up the very soil in lts
fury.
1t let's down from the menacinp
cloud above huge trombe or trunk
of inky blackness, with lightning
playing about it, and, whizzing with
the. speed of a buzz saw, it ploWs
path through a forest: tears
away the front of a gravel bank
with the force of a hydraulic iec
scoops up the contents Of a pond 10
the very mud; sucks away creeks
1t demolishes barns. haystacks
houses, churches. scattering. their
remnants over a square mile Of
territory; snatches up cattle.
horses, sheep, and even men and
women-sometimes dashing them
to death, and sometimes giving
them a wild ride through the air.
only to set them down at last, I'm.
injured.
The path of a tornado is from
100 to 600 yards wide. and The
length of its course may vary from
one or two up to 80 miles. Almost
invariably it moves toward the
northeast, with a speed of from %
to so miles an hour The center
where the destructive power is
greatest, occupies from one to five
minutes in passing over a given
point.
May Level Dozen Villages.
On account Of the uniformity in
the direction of tine movement Of
tornadoes. it is not difficult to get
out of their track if they can be
seen, or heard, coming a quarter or
a half-hour in advance.
A single tornado may level a
half dozen villages and pillow
track of destruction across two OF
three counties.
But when, as happened this week
a horde of these "twisters" breaks
upon the face of the land there Is
hardly any meteorological disaster
SO serious as that which they pro.
duce.
have just been looking at Sc
ries of charts prepared by the gov.
eminent in its studies of the great
outbreak of tornadoes on February
l9, 1884, to which the present one
may be compared, and they resem-
BILE military maps of an invaded
country, across which a dozen ar
mics are marching on parallel lines
From the Mississippi valley
across Kentucky, Tennessee. Mis-
sissippi, Georgia, South Carolina
and North Carolina the tornadoes
rushed side by side, new ones
breaking out as the earlier ones
were dissipated, until their raid had
almost reached the Atlantic ocean.
Whirl From Right to Left.
Tornadoes always occur in ne
southeastern quarter Of a cyclone
disturbance. Such a disturbance
may be from 1000 TO 1000 miles
broad, producing nothing but ram.
and moderate winds over most o.
its area, but in the southeastern
quadrant, where warm southern
winds are brought into contact WIN
cold winds from the north"e'"
whirls are set up, as eddles a.
pear at the edge of conflicting cL
rents of water and these, Il ya'
contrasts of temperature are "a
IRENE, quickly develop into iolhau'
tunnels. 81.
in every case the direction o. -
Whirl OF a tornado is rom .-s
to left. the same as that Of al -
clouic wind in the northern -.-i
isphere. In the case Of Inc gems
winds. this is readily eNr.a "'-
result of the rotation d. lA7
on its axis. In the southern w.. lr,
isphere the winds turn from -4--
right
Pertinent P7r9qraDhS |