Evening star., 1924-10-10
HURRICANE CAUSE
FULLY EXPLAINED
Atmospheric Foot Ball
Games That Play Havoc on
Coast Old Phenomena.

Solomon might have added To the
four things which he knew not'' the
mysterious way of a hurricane over
sea and land, for little was known
OF the workings Of weather until a
generation or so ago. Now science
has learned what this supervise king
found too difficult, SO that the Allan
tic Coast was fully warned against
the storm which lashed 1t from Flor
ida to New York the latter part OF
August.
Summer hurricanes and tho cond!-
tons that cause them are subject OF
the following bulletin from the Wash
inston headquarters of the National
Geographic Society.
Summer Feature for Ages.
THE so-called West Indian hurri-
canes that cripple Gulf Of Mexico
city or an Atlantic Coast port every
so often probably are as ancient In
their origin as the Atlantic Ocean and
the North American continent" says
the bulletin. They are the creatures
of atmospheric temperature and pres
sure, and variations in these in turn
are caused by the sun beating down
on the cxpanses of Atlantic water and
the land mass of our continent. The
first such storm on record devastated
pdTtS OF tuD9 IN 1iS4.
Annually, between July and octo-
Der, about 10 hurricanes are born
somewhere east Of the Caribbean Sea
usually to sweep westward, then
northward- and finally back north
eastward, their paths forming pretty
accurate parabolic curves. The pri-
mary factor in the births and careers
Of these storms il believed to be an
area OF high atmospheric pressure, or
high that exists practically perma-
nently over the middle Atlantic. In
other words, great blanket Of
heavy, sluggish air lies continually
over this area Along it's southern
edge in the tropics little swirling dis
turbances occur which are the seeds
of possible hurricanes. But there is
certain infant mortality among these
stormlets. especially in Winter and
Spring Then the Atlantic high ex-
tends in broad band on into the
North American continent, forming in
effect fence of heavy air which the
storms cannot pass. Confined TO the
tropics, they are dissipated without
causing the United States any con-
cern.
Storms Must Dodge "Highs.-
but when Summer heat has
warmed up the land the high with
draws to its ocean home, jutting out
like an air peninsula toward America
The atmosphere over the land be-
comes an arena for shifting highs
and lows 1t is as though an at
mospheric foot ball game were in
progress. The newly born storms OF
the tropical Atlantic regions seek,
because of the general drift of the
atmosphere, TO move northward. The
highs whether stationary or in mo-
tion, furnish the interference which
they must dodge. The weakest place
in the defense is between the perma-
nent Midatiantic high and the
American coast. Most tropical hurri-
the midocean barrier and then dash
northward well east of the coast.
Once around the end of the high
they swing northeastward and con-
tinue on even into Europe.
Some Of the storms do not have
such plain sailing. If the Atlantic
high extends farther westward than
usual the disturbances must swing
over the land to round the end. II is
upon such rather infrequent occa-
sions that the Atlantic Coast suffers
as it did in August.
Herded Into Gulf.
"By a still farther westward ex-
tension of the high pressure area tho
storms arc prevented from moving
north and sweep into sthe Gulf OF
Mexico. 1t was such conditions that
brought about the terribly destructive
Galveston hurricane in September,
1900, and that which cost many lives
at Corpus Christi in September, 1919.
The Galveston storm turned north
ward. passing through Texas and Ok
lahoma, and finally passed to the At
lantic down the st. Lawrence Valley.
The Corpus Christi hurricane, how
ever, belonged to the rare type with
an approximately straight path. \
chain of highs formed an impossible
barrier to the north and the storm
moved on into Mexico, where it was
finally dissipated among the noun
.ains.
Hurricanes are not winds that
drive straight ahead. They are swirls
of the cyclonic type. These swirling
storm centers move relatively slowly
across sea and land, sometimes at no
greater speed than S or 10 miles
hour. But they suck air toward them
from all sides at terrific speeds, up
to 100 or more miles an hour.
The United States Weather Bureau
had rather poor facilities for tracing
tropical storms until after the Span
ish-American War in 1898, when re-
porting stations We're established in
the West Indies. Now, with the de-