io94 Rural School Leaflet 



TWO WEATHER LESSONS 

 Wilford M. Wilson 



THUNDERSTORMS 



In New York thunderstorms occur most frequently during the summer 

 months, and more frequently during the afternoon than at other times 

 of the day. Usually they last only from a few minutes to an hour at 

 any one place, because they are moving storms and are carried along by 

 the wind. Most thunderstorms in this part of the world come from the 

 southwest and move toward the northeast. It is seldom that they come 

 from the northeast or the north. This is because they usually develop 

 in that part of a cyclone where the winds are from the southwest. You 

 remember that a cyclone is a very large storm, which frequently covers 

 two or three States at one time. In the southeast quarter of the cyclone 

 the temperature is the highest, the rainfall is the heaviest, and here, where 

 the winds blow from the southwest, thunderstorms usually develop. 

 They often occur near the close of a hot, sultry day, and their approach 

 is usually heralded by the appearance of a heavy bank of dark cumulus 

 clouds piled up on the horizon, which gradually spread over the sky as 

 the storm comes nearer. Although the air remains perfectly still until 

 the storm is near at hand, we can often see the clouds on the face of the 

 storm tossed and tumbled about by the violent storm wind. All at once, 

 direct from the storm comes the rushing squall-wind, stirring up the 

 leaves and raising clouds of dust. It is then time to run for shelter, for 

 in another minute comes the downpour of rain or hail, the sharp flash of 

 the lightning, and the roar of the thunder. 



Some persons are very much afraid during a thunderstorm, but there 

 really is very little danger. The only sources of danger are the wind and 

 the lightning. The wind from a thunderstorm is never strong enough to 

 blow over a well-constructed building, but if a person is in the woods it is 

 well to look out for falling branches. 



Persons are sometimes killed or injured by lightning, but the number is 

 many times less than the number injured every year in railroad accidents ; 

 yet, when we wish to make a trip on the railroad, we scarcely think of 

 the danger. Probably the place where we are safest from lightning during 

 a thunderstorm is in a house, particularly if we keep away from the wall:; 

 and chimney. It is less dangerous to stand out in the open, even at the 

 risk of getting wet, than to seek shelter under a tree, especially an oak 

 tree, for oak trees are struck by lightning more often than other kinds. 

 Beech trees are seldom struck. The reason for this is not known. If one 

 should seek shelter under a tree, it is best not to stand close to the trunk, 

 because the lightning usually runs down the trunk to the ground when a 



