THE WEATHER VS. THE NEWSPAPERS. 



391 



The only difference between the conditions that caused the Louisville and 

 near-by tornadoes and those that superinduced the St. Louis tornado and near-by 

 outbreaks, on May 27, 1896, was in degree, not in kind. The March cyclone of 

 1890 was extensive in area and of great intensity; the parent cyclone of May 27, 

 1896, was a vague low area of the mild summer type, with a pressure at the 

 center of only 29.70 inches, covering several States, St. Louis being in its southeast 

 quadrant in the afternoon. The tornadoes this vague, weak cyclone set up in 

 numerous localities were very destructive, the losses of life in and about St. Louis 

 reaching to over 300 killed, with property losses of $12,000,000. The parent 

 cyclone moved northeast and was central over the Lakes between Lake Huron 

 and Lake Ontario on the afternoon of the 28th, with an increase in intensity, 

 its center having a pressure of 29.40 inches, and, as local conditions allowed, it 



a vjf-M Q, ^-yiessf A I&93 



Fig. 4. 



caused a handful of small tornadoes in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 

 as well as a large number of thunderstorms. 



Chakt No. 4. — This chart gives the track of four destructive tropical cyclones, 

 known colloquially as 'hurricanes.' The hurricane differs from the continental 

 cyclones of the North Temperate Zone in its surface effects in nothing but its 

 intensity. The wind circulation is true to the cyclonic type (the term 'cyclone' 

 was invented to describe the movement of the winds in the tropical tempest), but 

 reaches great velocities, and, whereas the barometer in an intense continental 

 cyclone may only fall to 29 inches in the tropical cyclone, its vortex may record 

 28 inches, and, in certain cases, the barometer has fallen to 27. In consequence 

 of this, the vortical velocity of the wind is very great, reaching in gusts a rate 

 of 80, 90, 100 and 125 miles an hour. As one of these tropical eddies advances 

 from the West Indies and moves up the Atlantic Coast, it gives all localities north 

 of its center, successively, gales from the northeast. These August-September, 

 northeast gales, erroneously called 'equinoctials,' are but a part of the hurricane's 



