THUNDERSTORMS: ESPECIALLY THOSE OF OHIO.* 



WILLIAM H. ALEXANDER 

 Meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau, Columbus, Ohio 



I. Thunderstorms in General. 



1. Introduction 



The typical thunderstorm, that is, the thunderstorm com- 

 plete in every detail from its beginning to its ending, has ever 

 held a unique place in the world of human thought and spec- 

 ulation as evidenced by its large and conspicuous place in 

 ancient mythology, by its scarcely less conspicuous place in 

 the histor}^ and literature of the race, and by the earnest 

 consideration it has received from the brightest minds of the 

 scientific age. Not only so, but its physical characteristics 

 are such as to assure it a place of real and permanent interest 

 in our present and future thinking along meteorological lines. 



We are told upon apparently good authority^f that more 

 myths have gathered about the thunderstorm and its phe- 

 nomena than about any other natural phenomenon, except 

 possibly light and darkness. And we are quite prepared to 

 believe it when we recall the ominous stillness of the air, the 

 darkness of the sky, the lurid glare of the clouds, the majestic 

 roar of the thunder, and the indescribable effects of the highly 

 electrified bodies on the nerves of many people. If these storms 

 inspire so much awe in the human mind in a scientific age — in 

 these days of our boasted intellectual emancipation — with 

 what unspeakable awe must the primitive mind have regarded 

 them! No wonder the thunderstorm was looked upon as a 

 mystery that pressed for solution or explanation. These early 

 ^'explanations" have come down to us as myths, which, like 

 most myths, are of interest to us chiefly because they consti- 

 tute the first efforts of the human mind to explain natural 

 phenomena. Then, as now, a thing was regarded as explained 

 when classified with other things with which we are acquainted. 



*Presidential address, delivered at the Cleveland meeting of the Ohio 

 Academy of Science. 



fFor numbers of reference, consult bibliography at close of paper. 



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