The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-09-28
TORNADO SEASON
IS NOW upon Us
UNCLE SAINTS WEATHER EN-
PERTS GIVE OUT WARNING
AND ADVICE.

Washington, Sept. 22.-The pres
ent season is particularly favorable
to the development of tornadoes, ac-
cording to the weather experts of
the Department of Agriculture, which
has issued a bulletin giving warn
ings and descriptions of storm con-
ditions
II says that tornadoes are usual
ly preceded by high temperature and
humidity weather condition gen.
orally said to be "sultry," sticky"
or oppressive" Rain may come be-
fore, with or after tornado. or very
rarely, there may be no rain at all.
The barometer does not foretell
tornado, tho it indicates low pres
sure; and tornadoes always occur in
a "low" area.
The season in which tornadoes
may be expected varies according to
the region. They may visit the Gulf
States in winter, and as the season
advances, the region of greatest fire.
quency is in the plains States and the
Mississippi Valley, from April to
September inclusive. In this region
May is the worst month, with April
next. East of the Appalachian
Mountains, however. tornadoes rare
ly occur until AFTER July. Generally
! they come between $3.50 and p. m,
, but they may even come at night.
Persons may somewhat avoid tor
nado danger by watching the local
sings and reading the weather maps,
which at least show the conditions
which favor tornado formation. The
local signs are heavy, dark clouds
first in the Southwest, almost imme-
diately followed by clouds in the
Northwest and North. A funnel
shaped cloud is a sure sign, tho there
may be a tornado when such cloud
is not readily seen. If a funnel
motion of the air may be known by
peculiar roaring noise. somewhat
like the rumble of distant thunder or
the approach of a heavy train of
cars
II one can see the cloud and get an
idea of the direction in which it is
moving, the zone of safety is at right
angles to the direction Of motion.
The Southern margin is usually more
dangerous than the Northern, and
this should be remembered in seek
ing a place of safety. The width of
/ the path of greatest destruction is
ordinarily not more than a few hun
dred yards, tho this destructive diam
eter may be from some rods wide to
half mile, or sometimes wider.
In some of the Plain States there
are socalled Cyclone" cellars, and
where these are not available the
southwest corner of the cellar of a
frame building is the next best place.
Brick buildings are not so safe, but
the cellar is probably the safest place
in them.
Weather men define a tornado as
violent windstorm with rain or hail,
thunder and lightning, in which the
air masses whirl with great velocity
around a central core while the whole
storm travels across the country in a
narrow path at high speed.
A cyclone, in the definition of the
Weather Bureau, is not necessarily
a windstorm of great velocity, but
rather a widespread storm that
moves with pressure-indicated as
slow" on the weather map-gives
conditions essential to tornadoes.
Many cyclones never develop lorna
do but tornado never develops with
out the cyclone, and almost invaria-
bly, the tornadoes occur in southeast
quarter of the low area. About 12o
cyclones pass across the United
States each year, moving in a gener-
al way from West to East. They !
are of great benefit because they in
duce movement of surface air from
the South and Southeast, and the |
rainfall that makes the great interior |
valleys a rich agricultural region is |
dependent upon these southern, |
misunderstanding winds.
Tornadoes almost invariably move |
in an easterly direction and general
ly from southwest TO northeast. The |
average length of the path of destruc-
ton is about twenty-five miles, and |
this path may not be continuous, if
the funnel cloud is not in contact |
with the earth during its whole
course.