Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-25
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
STORMS


breaking at frequent intervals over
the most thickly settled portions OF
the United States, bringing their
relief from sweitering temperatures
no doubt these disturbances are
taken as matters of course on the
summer weather menu, irrespec-
tive of locality. But the world has
its blind spots for thunder and
lightning, according to a bulletin is
sued from the Washington. ID. &.
headquarters of the National Geo.
graphic Society.
Unknown Near Poles
Our own experiences i'll the tenn
perate zone and the literature with
which we + fami!!ar--prac-
tically all of it written in the tenn
perate Zone-combine to give us the
impression that thunder and light
ming are more or less worldwide
phenomena" says the bulletin,
"Zeus began forging his thunder
bolt and scattering them about the
Mediterranean region with the dawn
of time, and farther north IN Eu-
rope Thor was occupied with the
same pastime. 'Donder' ard blit-
zen ever figure in our nursery
rhymes.
But it does not follow that these
phenomena are known throughout
the world. The brilliant ti&lsh CT
lightning and the crackle and rum
BILE of thunder would be as impossi-
BILE of conception by many Eski-
mos as would solid water by equa-
torial savages.
"The humid regions of the tropics
constitute the real home of thun-
der. In some regions in the torrid
zone there are as many as 200 days
In the year on which thunder
storms occur. But those disturb
ances are frequent enough in the
se~mi-tropical areas and in the tenn
perate zones. and it is in The latter.
in fact, that the greatest damaSe
results from lightning. In general
the frequency of thunder storms de-
as one goes north, until
within the Arctic and Antarctic cir
Giles they seldom occur. When
Katmai volcano, on the Alaskan
peninsula, erupted in 1917 some OF
the adult natives of the vicinity
were most terrific at the lightning
and thunder that accompanied the
dust clouds than at the possibility
of being buried by ash, because they
had nothing in their lifelong eXpe-
rience by which to judge the blind
ing deafening noise from tho skies
Blind Spots in U. s..
There are virtual blind spots
for thunder and lightning even In
the United States, particularly along
the Pacific coast. The extremes are
Tampa, Florida, with its average OF
more than 80 thunder storms a year
and San Francisco, with an average
of less than one such storm a year
At no place along the Pacific coast
do more than three or four thunder
storms occur per year.
Though lightning. perhaps next
to the rising sun and the wind, must
have been one of the earliest man.
ifestations of nature to attract man,
it was not until recently that an
apparently satisfactory explanation
was evolved in regard to its origin
and what takes place during the
flash. 1t was long held h a light
ming was the discharge of normal
atmospheric electricity which eX-
lists in the air, becomes concentrated
in clouds, and finally reaches such
a high potential that it breaks q
path to a neighboring cloud or op'
posite potential, or to the earth
Some recent laboratory experiment.
seem to show that the mysterious
ion plays a major role in the produc'
ton of lightning. According TO THIS
theory. air rising rapidly through
falling rain. breaks the drops into
small particles, a process whlch
sets free an excess of negative ions
These are carried aloft with the
finest spray while the positive ions
are left below. Eventually the ac'
cumuIated negative charge in the
upper portion of the clouds breaks
it's way to the positively charged
lower cloud or the tension of pos
tive electricity on the lower CLOUDS
breaks a path to the earth.
Thought Thunder Was Dumping
Clouds
There have been varioIs Q
to account for thunder. the audible
aspect of lightning. To the Scandl
navians it was the pounding o.
Thor's hammer; to the Hindus, tn
clatter of celestial horses hoofs OF
the hard pavement of the sky NO
many decades ago the explanation
was made seriously in the West tina
thunder arose from the humping to
| gether Of the clouds! 1t is now ex
planned as caused by the violen'
heatin gof the atmosphere that Il
| practically an explosion. Similar.
it is believed to be the sudden heat
ing caused by the discharge whicf
disrupts trees and other opJect
| struck by lightning. 1t is Dug
+ho+ tha san in growing trees ant
even the slight amount of moisture
in seasoned wood is turned instantly
into e or perhaps is broken III
into oxygen and hydrogen:
"If lightning strikes a large eX'
panse of metal well connected witt
the ground little damage results
Steel framed skyscrapers in New
| York have been struck repeatedly
| but the electrical charges usuaiiS
run harmlessly down the metal wall