Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03
WORLDS STRANGE
STORMS DESCRIBED
Different Nations Have Own
Names for Similar Kinds
of Winds.

Monsoons and simoons, siroccos and
southern bursters, harmattans and ha-
boobs, chinooks and willy willies, mis-
trails and the doctor"-each country
has its favorite name for its distinc-
tive winds.
Algeria breads its chihilis
Guatemala and Nicaragua expect
daily chubascos in Summer time.
Fiune shivers at the approach OF
bora.
Spain scorches under the whip of the
leveche out of Africa.
Persia has learned to live with her
shsmal
yet fewer than a dozen different
kinds of winds are recognized by me-
teorologists," says a bulletin of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. "A blizzard
by any other name-buran, poorga or
pampero-is still a blizzard.
Central Americas Monsoon"
Central Americas chubasco season
Is a smalI-scale copy of midas mon
soon. An Australian set down in Texas
would soon recognize that a Texas
'norther' was a near relative to his own
Southern burster
"A Swiss travelling through the Rock
les in early Spring; snittins SOFT; Dry
warm breeze, would eXclalm, An, foehn
wind Chinook" native might cor
rect him. But a South African would
call it a berg wind a Sumatran bo-
horok and a Farce Islander glaVe
wind
'The typhoon that hit Korea and
Japan recently is another variety OF the
wind species. hurricane, that OCCASION !
ally sweeps the West Indies and South
ern United States. Hurricanes, or
typhoons, also Zoom around In the
South Seas curve off the northeast ana
northwest coast of Australia and charge
the east coast of Africa. The tornado, |
q concentrated, whirling wind and most
destructive of the storms OF small ex-
tent. which appears in the American
Middle West. is also known to Northern
Africa and to Australia. Tornadoes at |
tain the greatest speed of any winds, |
estimates of their velocities running as
high as 500 miles per hour.
U. S. Feels "SirOcco."
1.-The United States has been expert |
encing the sirocco, If you put the |
Italian label on hot waves from the |
south. When a low, which is the |
weather mans name for a large storm |
area, moves across continent. 1t often |
pulls in hot air from the direction of |
the Equator. Italy's siroeco, like Ameri- |
can south winds, has passed over water, |
so it brings a moist, heavy. lazy atmos-
phere. But the same wind, reaching |
Spain as the Solano, after having passed |
over land is hot, dry and dusty. So |
are the leveche of Eastern Spain and
the leSte of Madeira and Northern |
Africa. Argentina's hot zondaS are |
South American siroccos. To the same
family belongs AustraliaS brickfleld, al
though it blows from the north instead
of the south, since Australia lies below
the Equator.
DC mir
happened this way. Sydney was one OF
the communities first settled on the
continent and it had a brickfield
on the southern limits of the city. A
storm from the south would hurl clouds
of dust on the grumbling inhabitants.
Many dusty Sydneyites rushed to Vic
toria when gold was discovered and
soon thereafter the hot, north sirocco
winds rushed on them. Experiencing
much the same discomfort they Suf-
fered in Sydney from brickyard dust,
the miners promptly named the hot
winds brickfielders.
Thunderstorms Almost Universal.
Australia supplies curious nicknames
20 all its breezes. Besides brickfielderS !
and southern bursters, there are willy |
Willies. the Fremantle doctor and Cock
eyed Bobs Willy willies are hurricanes
that play tag up and down the north
Perth's afternoon cooling breeze from
the sea; Coek-eyed Bob is thunder
storm.
Few countries on earth do not have
thunderstormS. africa, in Chile, does |
not have them; indeed, it does not have
transforms of any kind year on end.
The United States has a fair number;
the Cameroons, which lie in Africa's
armpit, are the second most thunderous
lands of earth while the true land OF
the thunderbolt is Java. At Buiten-
Eorg Java, lightning flashes and thun-
der growls 322 days OF the year.
The Patron Wind of India.
Ancient Greeks erected an eight
sided temple to the winds, each SIDE
sacred to the wind from that corner
of the compass. Weather observatorteS
have supplanted the Greek temple and
a different type of classification has re-
placed the Greek weathervane method.
Now it is known that a small dust whirl
on a city street is type of nearly all
storms. Waterspouts, thunderstorms,
tornadoes, billiards from Northwest
Canada are all swirls Of winds OF great
er or lesser diameter. But separate
cubby-hole has to be reserved Tor me
monsoon The monsoon is different, the
unique possession of the Far East. al
though a baby monsoon, the chubasco,
has been found in Central America.
I'm India the monsoon dictates poll
tics, drives Englishmen to the hills and
saves the whole peninsula from being
another Arabian desert. Monsoon rains
stopped a political demonstration in
Bombay q few weeks ago and have
called a halt to salt gatherings. Salt
pans that were scenes of disturbance
are now, with the coming of monsoon
downpours, muddy pools.
How the MOOnsOons Flow.
1.-The monsoon can be understood
without going to India If the kitchen
stove can take the place of 10000
mile sea voyage. ANY one who has looked
at the kitchen range, felt the heat and
even seen the heat waves rising from
its top knows what happens in India.
Tibet, north of India, is the worlds
largest natural stove, huge block OF
land raised up in the sky two miles
above sea level, bare to the hot SUM
ner sun. Heat waves rise from Tibet,
and to take the place of the rising air |
new air. called the monsoon, comes in
from India. If the air were smoke
colored, the monsoon winds could be |
seen approaching the tip of India in a
vast stream. Upon reaching the tip |
the stream divides. part of it rolling /
up the east coast, the rest up the west. |
Then the monsoon air streams strike |
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