Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-04-01
MEN OF SCIENCE FOLLOW TRACK
OF RECENT NEsRAskA.IowA
STORM.
ROUTE IS FOUND 70 De
LONGEST ON RECORD
Interesting History Of Phenomena BE-.
ing Compiled Three Distinct Tor
nadoss Found 20 Have Developed
About Same Tims-Main One Ira.
.verssd Iowa for Fifty Miles.

IIcHCe anu OOSSeuNcSS VI IH0 OetcCIlSe,
three attaches, Of the state geology de-
partment have been sticking for the
last four CT Ave days &c the t-a!! Of
the late tornado, with the object in
view Of tracing it's course and making
permanent record Of all phenomena
connected with it. Hundreds OF. pictures
have been taken and records of vari
GUS kinds are being amassed with the
idea in mind that something valuable
may be adduced.
The tornado Is declared by these in
vestigators to have covered a longer
path than any other on record The
first trace of the storm was found just
north Of Bethany, a, Lincoln suburb,
where a farm house was damaged. Its
trail was followed thru Greenwood,
past Ashland past South Omaha and
into Ralston. Apparently it kept rising
and falling. the first fifteen miles show
ing damage only here and there. but
near Greenwood it began to tear down
houses and barns. After traversing a
dozen miles 1t again lifted, but came
down to earth again near Ralston and
from there on to the river was at it's
dealiest point.
Fifty Miles in Iowa.
From near Bethany to the river is
fifty-two miles, which is about the nor
NAL length of a tornado's path, accord
ing to Section Director Loveland, Of
the weather bureau. But as this storm
went on over into Iowa for at least
fifty miles, as shown by the discovery
at Harlan of sign blown off an Omaha
- IL
miles long. y,
The Omaha tornado was not the
same storm that wrecked Yutan and
put Berlin off the map. The investi-
gators report that there were three dis
tinct tornadoes, that which hit Omaha
being the main one, with the other two
as smaller and distinct storms. The
starting point of these two latter have
not yet been found, but it is expected
that during the next week this also will
have been definitely located. man
will also be sent to Iowa to trail the
tornado there.
Most persons" says Mr.. Loveland,
"get the idea when reports come in
after tornado outbreak that all dam
age came from one storm. The truth
is there may be any number Of these
tornadoes occurring over a given area,
while only a few and sometimes but
one Of them do any damage. There is
a constantly flowing river Of air cross
ing the country from west to east, that
next the earth being the warmest and
that above the coolest. This river Is
about 5000 miles wide and about five
or six miles deep; that is. extends
across the upper half of the continent
and some miles toward the sun. The
movement of the earth on it's axis is
one of the causes of disturbances. The
real tornado breeder, however. is the
sun, because thence comes the energy.
Why tho Tornado.
"The tornado is brought about by the
overheating Of a portion of the earth's
surface. Easter Sunday this area COW
cred practically all Of southeastern
Nebraska. The friction Of the contend
ing layers of air developed energy and
this energy forced a way thru the upper
cold layers, Of columns of hot air, thus
making chimneys that developed sue
ton and the whirling motion. The fact
that there is sharp division between
the area of damage and that where
nothing Is disturbed by tornado indi-
Gates that the chimney theory is cor
rect. These whirling columns of air
are analogous to the whirlpools seen in
water, where, because of friction from
rough bottoms or from conflicting cur
rents, a column Of water is sent whirl-
ing. If you will notice where one
stream enters another at an angle there
will be constant succession of little
:whirlpools, caused by the conflict Of
currents, which go eddying down the
stream. That's what happens in the
air when air currents conflict under
certain conditions. only they sometimes
reach a velocity of 300 to 500 miles an
hour"