STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 177 



gathering the warm, humid surface atmosphere, and carrying it 

 to a common center, where it is thrown upward and outward, 

 where the cooling process condenses the accompanying moisture, 

 which is in turn precipitated to the earth, in the form of rain, 

 hail, or snow. 



Conflicting currents of different temperature, usually on the 

 southeast margin of this great swirling mass of low pressure 

 atmosphere, and perhaps hundreds of miles distant from its 

 center, generates the destructive tornado, which we so often hear 

 improperly called a cyclone. A tornado is impossible, except as 

 the accompaniment or picket-guard of a cyclone. 



It will be seen by what has been said, that a cyclone, or area of 

 low barometer, must necessarily be followed and displaced by an 

 anti-cyclone, or high barometer, as the latter constantly rushes 

 towards the former, in the effort of nature to re-establish an 

 equilibrium of atmospheric forces. There, is, therefore, a con- 

 stant succession of atmospheric changes taking place, though 

 these changes are by no means of equal degrees of energy. For- 

 tunately, the extremes are but seldom reached; extremes which 

 would result in violent and destructive storms and tornadoes. 



I have already said that these varying conditions were wisely 

 conceived by the Creator, for the purpose of purifying and ven- 

 tilating the atmosphere. For our present purpose, this may be as 

 far as we need inquire into the causes that generate, or give rise to,, 

 a low barometer or cyclone, 



THE BLIZZARD OF JANUARY 6 -10th, 1S86. 



Having said this much, by way of introductory, and for the 

 purpose of giving a clearer understanding of the subject in hand, 

 I will now illustrate my theory of storm movements, especially 

 of that class of storms for the designation of which _ we have but 

 recently coined the fitting term "blizzard." For this purpose, I 

 have chosen the severe and somewhat peculiar cold wave of 

 January 6-10th, 1886. 



In reference to this noted storm, the Director of the Indiana 

 Weather Service, in his reports for the month of January of 

 that year, has the following: " The cold wave of the 9-13th, in 

 some particulars, was the most remarkable known for years. 

 This was true as regards its wide-spread distribution in the 

 southern portion of the United States. The weather records 

 of Florida show that they have had no such unusually low tem- 

 perature since 1835. The zero line dropped down into Texas, 

 and extended far into the Gulf of Mexico, including all of 

 Florida. The wave passed down from Manitoba over the west- 

 ern plains to Texas and Louisiana, gradually diminishing in 

 severity as it spread eastward. It did not strike us (in Indiana) 

 with the violence of that of Jan. 1st, 1864, nor did the temper- 

 ature fall so low as on Jan. 5th, 1884; but like each of those 

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