Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-04
Blow Threatens
Coastal i. S. If
Course Holds.
CUBA In PATH,
EXPERT WARNS
MitchelPlOts Route
on Maps, Showing
Danger.

With hopes and fears of thou
sands of hurricane-th threatened
persons thrust upon his shoulders
once again, Charles L. Mitchell, To-
cal weather forecaster, and the
Governments tropical storm ex-
pert, bent anxiously over his
maps today and plotted sinister
course for the latest hurricane.
1t Was a thin, red pencil line
which the noted meteorologist
traced painstakingly across a
map of the West Indian section,
but its almost Decline path, end
ing abruptly near the extreme
northeast tip of Haiti, pointed
ominously toward Southern Flor
ida.
Danger for Cuba and Florida.
Just how much the terrific
storm, already with a grave toll,
may deviate to one side or an
other in the next day or so, even
hurricane expert cannot guess.
If the center of the whirling
blow keeps to its present course,
however, real danger looms for
Cuba and Florida.
Mitchell turned away from his
kilograms and maps long enough
today to issue warning that the
hurricane probably" will move
Observation-Disclosures in the next
"a or 36 hours, near the Northern
coast of Cuba and toward the
Florida Straits"
Although the disturbance has crossed
the mountainous region" the forecaster
said, 1T is still likely of hurricane in
tensity."
Due Tomorrow Night.
At the present rate of progress of the
storms vortex it should reach Florida
possibly late tomorrow night, providing,
of course, the path does not change
materially, he declared.
Mitchell estimated the present veloc-
ity of the winds at in excess of hun
dred miles an hour One report yes
terday from the affected area gave q
velocity OF 1876 miles an hour. An
other message reported destruction of
q radio tower built to Withstand winds
of $50 miles an hour"
The future course of present storm,
1t was pointed out, depends on the
effect which may be produced by two
United States and over the North At
lantic.
High Pressure Holds Hope.
Those high-pressure areas may meet
and tend to push the hurricane back
in its efforts to follow the usual hurri-
cane path curving away from Cuba and
Florida to the northeast" Mitchell ex-
planned. Apparently the high pressure
path of the disturbance today shows
no tendency to curve northward."
The forecaSter had plotted and re-
plotted the hurricanes path since it
was first limited at in routine report
received Monday from the radio station
at Roseau, Dominica, in the WindWard
Island group. The first report told
merely of rapidly falling barometer
and made no mention of winds, but 1t
was enough to warrant issuance by
Mitchell of warning that disturb
ance Of unknown intensity was looming.
Second Report Bares "LOw."
A few hours later second report
was received from Roseau, in which a
barometer reading of 1924 inches was
given-a dangerous low" Since then
other reports of winds of varying in
tensity and barometer readings of low
degree have filtered in to the govern
ment's hurricane headquarters" at
Twenty-tourth and M streets.
The reports indicate that the total
area covered by the furiously revolving
body of wind does not exceed hundred
miles or so. OF course, much 1arS--S
area than that is affected by strong
winds, but the 75-mile minimum Pc
culiar to hurricane probably is con-
fined within a small area, Mitchell
pointed out.
Because of the limited area, fore
casting the probable future effects of
hurricane is difficult task. The
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