Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-03-24
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

Tho tremendous tornado when
swept through Kansas, illinois and
Indiana last, week so daZed the pup
lie with it's horrors that not yet mas
it's terror subsidized. Nothing TO com
pare with it has ever been recoroed
in America, yet this continent has al
most q monopoly of wind storms.
Between 500 and 600 deaths occurred
within a few minutes, together with
1000 victims of enjuries, and the
property loss exceeds $50, 100000. But
what will be the death toll to fol-
low. from the wounds, the disease.
the pestilence likely to come, unless
science wins an almost Impossible
preventive victory?
y y x
There are some phases of the ca
tastrophe which are aside from the
details of the spot news" but which
may be misunderstood in popular
convention. First. that storm was
mot merely a cyclone" but was a
tornado. Perhaps it may be said
that all tornadoes are cyclones, but
all cyclones are not tornadoes. The
unscientific idea is that storm that
is "twister" with a funnel-shaped
cloud reaching to the ground and
sweeping aloft whatever it touches.
is a cyclone, while storm which
rushes like a cannon ball across the
country is not cyclone.
According to the United states
wea Their Bureau, the word Cyclone"
was introduced by Henry Pidington
of Calcutta in 1S4s and was applied
by its author to all circular or high
" curved winds, without relation to
the strength of the wind; that in
clude "tornadoes." In time the term
came to be used in meteorological
parlance In a narrower sense, and is
now applied to an extensive system
of winds blowing around an area OF
low barometric pressure, often COW
ering an area of 500 or 500 miles
diameter. cyclone is not neces-
sarily q storm, although the wind
might become so strong as to con-
stitute one.
A cyclone is accompanied with rain
or snow and extends over a wide
area, with winds circHng in the d.
rection reverse of the way hands
move around a clock dial. Then
there are anti-cyclones, in which the
wind moves in the opposite direction
from cyc1onic winds; they go in the
direction of hands around dial. In
an anti-cyelone the weather is fair.
There is never a tornado without a
cyclone, hence in all tornadoes the
wind circles contrariwise from the
directihn of clock hand. This means
only Concerning storms north or the
equator; south of the equator the re-
verse is true, for it Is the motion of
the earth around its axis which gives
direction to the wind currents.
X " I; y
Tornadoes cannot be predicted.
Conditions may be observed which
may or may not bring on tornadoes,
but the actual event is not yet pos
sible to foresee. Warm winds begin
to blow from the south-from the
West Understand as they sweep
northwestwardly, they may come in
contact with cool winds from the
north. Then starts a whirling mo-
ton at the height Of the clouds-half
or three quarters of a mile above
earth That whirl rapidly; increases,
and as 1t does so, the vortex extends
down until it touches the ground.
The vortex usually is only few rods
wide. but as ii travels over the sur
face the speed of the wind is i'm
measurable.
No measuring instrument of the
meteoroligists has ever survived such
a storm, hence science has no meas
ure of the velocity of a tornado wind,
except such as might be calculated
from the dynamics necessary to per-
form its feats in lifting and trans
porting weights of a known eXpanse.
Planks have been driven through oak
trees, feathers have penetrated heavy
blanks The force overcome in such
concrete incidents may be calculated.
Science says, therefore, that tor
nadoes must blow at a rate of more
than 500 miles an hour. That means
the speed of an atom of air around
its whirling column. though the
column itself may, be progressing
along the land at only speed of a
man walking. The column sometimes
travels with the speed Of an express
train. -,--.,-,.-.. -.-.-.-
Il !; :: y
DIR. Humphrey c&ief of the United
States Weather Bureau, has esti-
mated that the total area actually
touched by last weeks funnel was