Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-25


ing at frequent intervals over the
most thickly settled portions OF the
United States. bringing their rellef
from sweltering temperatures, no
doubt these disturbances are taken as
matters of course on the summer
weather menu, irrespective Of locality.
But the world has it's "blind spots for
thunder and lightning, according to
bulletin issued from the Washington,
ID. c., headquarters Of the National
Geographic Society.
Unknown Near Poles.
"Our own experiences in the tenn
perate zone and the literature with
which we are most familiar-practl-
cally all of it written in the temper
ate zone-combine to give us the i'm
preston that thunder and lightning are
more or less world wide phenomena
SAYS the bulletin. "Zcus began forg-
ing his thunderbolts and scattering
them about the Mediterranean region
with the dawn of time, and farther
north in Europe Thor was occupied
with the same pastime. Dondcr and
bitten even figure in our nursery
rhymes.
But it does not follow that these
phenomena are known throughout the
world The brilliant flash of lightning
and the crackle and rumble of thunder
would be as impossible Of conception
by many Essimos as would solid wa
ter by equatorial savages.
"The humid regions of the tropics
constitute the real home Of thunder. In
some regions in the torrid zone there
are as many as 200 days in the year
on which thunder storms occur. But
these disturbances are frequent enough
in the semi-tropical areas and in the
temperate zones, and it is in the latter,
in fact, that the greatest damage re-
suits from lightning. In general the
frequency of thunder storms decreases
as one goes north, until within the
Arctic and Antarctic circles they sell
dom occur. When katmai volcano, on
the Alaskan peninsula, erupteI In l9l2
some of the adult natives of the vicin-
ity were more terrified at the lightning
and thunder that accompanied the dust
clouds than at the possibility OF be-
ing buried by ash, because they had
nothing in their lifelong experience by
which to judge the binding and deaf
ening noise from the skies.
Blind Spots In U. S.
"Thcre are virtual blind spots for
thunder and lightning even in the
United States, particularly along the
Pacific coast. The extremes are, ram
Ia, Florida, with its average of more
than 80 thunderstorms a year, and
San Francisco, with an average of less
than one such storm year. At no
place along the Pacific coast do more
than three or four thunder storms oc-
cur per year.
Though lightning, perhaps next to
the rising sun and the wind, must have
been one of the earliest manifestations
'NN-'
of nature to attract man, 1t was not
until recently that an apparently sat
isfactory explanation was evolved in
regard to its origin and what takes
place during the flash. 1t wa3 long
Ecld that lightning was the discharge
of normal atmospheric electricity,
which exists in the air, hccomcs con-
cCntratcd in clouds, and finally reach
cs such high potential that it breaks
a path to a ncighboring cloud of OPP
posite potential, or TO the earth.
Some recent laboratory experiments
seem to show that the mysterious ion
plays Il ma jor role in the production OF
lightning. According to this theory
air, rising rapidly through falling rain
breaks the drops into small particles,
q process which sets free an excess OF
negative ions. These are carried aloit
with the finest spray while the posi-
tive ions are left below. Eventually
the accumulated negative charge in
the upper portion of the clouds breaks
its way to the positively charged low
er cloud or the tension of positive
electricity on Il @ lower clou. breaks a
path to the earth.
Thought Thunder Was Dumping
Clouds.
There have been various theories
10 account for thunder the audible as-