STORMS 



55G3 



STORY 



ing action is greatest at the equator and is 

 least at the poles. Heated air expands, the up- 

 per layers flowing off into the surrounding re- 

 gions, cooling as they go. This reduces the 

 atmospheric pressure over the warm areas and 

 increase's it elsewhere. Air on the lower levels 

 is thus driven into the center of low pressure, 

 and a rotary circulation on a vast scale is main- 

 tained, by the action of the sun's heat and the 

 pull of gravitation on the atmospheric en- 

 velope. 



Storms are known as general and local. The 

 former alone are described here. Such storms 

 may cover a low pressure area having a diame- 

 ter of from 500 to 1,000 miles, but they are not 

 often violent. They are accompanied by shift- 

 ing winds and more or less rain or snow. Tech- 

 nically they are known as cyclones, or cyclonic 

 storms, but they must not be confused with 

 the so-called cyclones of the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, which are really tornadoes. Storms which 

 occur in areas of high pressure rather than of 

 low pressure are given the name of anti-cyclonic 

 storms. 



Cyclonic storms of this nature have well- 

 defined areas on nearly every continent. In 

 North America they cover the great central re- 

 gion between the Rocky and the Appalachian 

 mountains. They have an almost uniform prog- 

 ress from west to east, and it usually requires 

 eight or ten days for one to make a complete 

 circle. For this reason storms and fair weather 

 succeed each other at frequent intervals. This 

 regularity of movement makes it possible for 

 the Weather Bureau to foretell the approach 

 of these storms from twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours in advance. 



The approach of storms in summer is her- 

 alded by an area of low pressure. A light south- 

 erly wind prevails. The sky becomes hazy or 

 streaked with clouds. The temperature rises; 

 the air becomes uncomfortably humid; local 

 thunderstorms may occur. Whether rain falls 

 or not, the temperature continues to rise until 

 the center of low pressure passes, when the 

 wind shifts to the west or northwest and a 

 welcome coolness ensues, with a drop of ten 

 or twenty degrees in temperature. The center 

 of the cyclonic area is marked by rain which 

 results from the rapid condensation of vapor 

 in the cooling clouds. Such are the character- 

 istic phenomena of a summer storm in the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



Storms are most frequent in the spring and 

 fall months, and are more frequent in winter 

 than in summer. They attain their maximum 



violence over the sea, where the wind often 

 blows with such velocity as to be a men- 

 ace to shipping. Their average duration is 

 about three days, but they may continue for 

 as many as ten days. 



Though few people enjoy stormy weather, 

 storms are a necessity. Without them we would 

 be deprived of rain or snow and of that varia- 

 tion of temperature so essential to the main- 

 tenance of health and assurance of good crops 

 on the farms. 



Consult Bigelow's Storms,, Storm Tracks and 

 Weather Forecasting (United States Weather 

 Bureau Bulletin 20) ; Bowie and Weightman's 

 Types of Storms of the United States and Their 

 Average Movements. 



Related Subjects. More detailed information 

 as to the causes and character of storms will 

 be found in the following articles : 

 Blizzard Rain 



Cyclone Snow 



Hail Tornado 



Hurricane Typhoon 



Lightning Weather Bureau 



Monsoon Whirlwind 



Norther Wind 



STORY, sto'ri, JOSEPH (1779-1845), an Asso- 

 ciate Justice of the United States Supreme 

 Court, whose term was one of the longest in 

 the history of that body. He was born at Mar- 

 blehead, Mass., graduated at Harvard in 1798, 

 and three years later began the practice of law. 

 Always much interested in literature, he pub- 

 lished in 1804 a volume of poems, The Power 

 of Solitude; but these were unsuccessful, and 

 he made no future attempt in the field of 

 poetry. His success in his profession was im- 

 mediate, however, and he became active in 

 politics, serving in the state legislature and in 

 1808-1809 in the national Congress, where he 

 became known as a leader of the Republican 

 (afterward Democratic) party. President Madi- 

 son appointed him an Associate Justice of the 

 Supreme Court in 1811, and he served for 

 thirty-four years, exercising an important influ- 

 ence in American constitutional law. The only 

 other Justice except Chief Justice Marshall 

 who served so long was John Maynard Har- 

 lan. The most celebrated case on which Jus- 

 tice Story wrote the decision was the Dart- 

 mouth College Case. From 1829 until his death 

 Justice Story was professor of law at Harvard, 

 and his reputation as a teacher rivaled that as 

 a jurist. His publications include Commen- 

 taries on the Law of Bailments, Commentaries 

 on the Constitution of the United States, Com- 

 mentaries on Equity Jurisprudence and Con- 

 flict of Laws. 



