The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-04-08
THE EQU|N0CT|A[
STORMS ORIGIN
WHERE STORM THAT RECENTLY
WROUGHT OBSTRUCTION OVER
COUNTRY HAD ITS START
NATURE LET'S LOOSE TERRIFIC FORCES
Science Can Foretell But Cannot
Control These Mighty Up
heavals Of Air.

( The instability of the atmosphere
/ during the eQuinoctial period has long
( been source. of interesting study
! People in every community have
grown to anticipate high winds and
( low barometer in March or Septem.
! ber but while a majority are content
with the explanation that ii is the
! time of the equinox, natural scien-
! fists have discovered the real reason
! for the disturbances and divorced
! them from the mystery. Thus it is
/ that the weather bureau is enabled TO
( explain the series Of violent storms,
Sunday in widely separated areas.
When the shifting Of the earth on it's
axis brings the sun directly over the
equator, the normally placid southern
/ seas receive the full effect of the
blistering hot rays. The waters be-
come agitated, ocean currents are
! spurred to greater action and the
over-heated dead blanket of air over
the sea rises with increased rapidity.
| Thus forming in sense vacuum,
atmosphere rushes from all directions
to fill the space created by the rising
air and soon there results a general
| circular movement of the air through
out these areas, known as the dol
! drums. AS these periods during which
the suns rays are focused directly
on the center of the earth extend over
! several days, the atmosphere soon he
! comes violently Nyitated and it is
! here that the great hurricanes and
path of these great storms form the
doldrums, south of the Caribbean, Is
first to the northwest, gradually turn
ing to a northeasterly direction. In
other words the air currents follow
the general trend of the currents Of
\ the Gulf stream, though swinging
generally much further to the west
ward--something which our Gulf
stream might do did it not come in
contact with our southeastern coast,
which turns it northeastward. Thus
it is that the gulf ports are frequently
! the scenes of disastrous hurricanes
getting as they do the full force Of
the newly created storms of the equa-
toral region, storms naturally most
furious during the time when the sun
, is nearest the equator. These big
cyclonic areas generally expend their
own force by the time they turn to-
ward the northeast, though frequent
/ W they continue of sufficient violence
/ throughout their entire passage over
the country and even after they have
passed the seaboard and out on the
north Atlantic.
South America are the birthplace Of
most of the great storms of the east
ern part of the country, other sections
Of the globe similarly have their
oceanic and atmospheric disturbances,
and it is through the combination Of
effects from the different disturbed
areas that local conditions result.
Thus it was on Sunday, when great
storms following the path of the ia
pan current on the Pacific side swept
over the country from the northwest
and came in contact with the strong
winds from the southeast Overhead
ed local areas thus become pockets"
where the storms developed locally
into the extreme violence Of tornadoes,
carrying with them enormous toll in
lives and property. Contrary to gen
eral belief, tornado is a local storm
and generally of very short duration.
! The vortex of the storm becomes prac-
tically a vacuum, causing an irresist-
ble thrush of air. The wind velocity
toward the core Of a tornado has been
estimated to be as high as three hun
dred miles per hour, which accounts
for the terrible havoc wrought in the
vicinity of these monsters Of the air.
Weather experts cannot predict tor
nadoes, as they are purely local, but
they do give warnings of the condi-
tons favorable to them, as the follow
ing of great cyclonic areas has come
to be an exact science. Thus II was
that Galveston was warned over a day
ahead of it's terrible visitor of a score
of years ago, and that the farmers Of
the northwest are kept posted on the
approach of low barometric areas. The
weather bureau had storm warnings
out throughout the eastern part of
the country last Sunday, but of course
they could do nothing toward helping
those unfortunate regions where
"twisters" developed Coast shipping,
however, remained in port, and there
can be no accurate estimate of the
number of lives or the value Of prop
erty thus saved by the weather bureau
in this one instance.