356 Tornado at St. Cloudy Minnesota — HalL 



area moved steadily eastward. At three o'clock, the same day, it 

 had reached the center of Nevada; at 11 o'clock that evening, (75th 

 meridan time,) it had reached the Great Salt Lake valley. It con- 

 tinued to move eastward until three o'clock p. m. of the 12th, 

 when it turned towards the north, and moved forward at a much 

 slower rate. Its rate was so slow that 48 hours later, or at three 

 o'clock of the 14th, by turning northeasterly in its course, it had 

 only reached the Missouri valley a few miles from Bismarck. Con- 

 tinning onwards northerly, swinging even a little towards the 

 west, and then northeasterly, this low pressure center was last 

 seen by the Canadian observers at lake Winnipegosis, on its 

 northeasterly course to Hudson bay . 



The progress of this area of low pressure was a remarkable 

 one. Its course was characterized by great weather disturbances, 

 and even some severe storms, until the culmination of disasters in 

 the tornado, which swept over Saint Cloud, Sauk Rapids and 

 Rice's Station a little after 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 14th, 

 The records of the U. S. Signal service recount them. From that 

 hour on until the final disappearance of the cyclone, the winds 

 and the storms kept almost perfect peace. 



It appears that the towns named were upon the southeastern 

 quarter of the great cyclonic rim, whose center on the afternoon 

 of the 1 4th was west and northwest of Bismarck, Dakota. The 

 tornado which proved so destructive moved from the southwest 

 towards the northeast. Its effects could be seen and studied long 

 after the storm had passed; what it was and how it looked, as a 

 tornado, can only be known on the authority of eye witnesses. 

 One of them says;* 



"The tornado must have formed rapidly, and just about over the lake, 

 as it was there when first noticed. It was very black and seemed constant- 

 ly in motion. It was moving rapidly across the lake when first seen, was 

 flat and oval in shape, with a sort of spiral at each of the extremities, one 

 extending upward and the other downward. It was peculiar in appearance 

 and I watched it closely. After having passed across the lake it seemed to 

 stop. The movement resembled that of a fan opening and closing, and it 

 remained stationary for some seconds. Almost instantly t-he form changed. 

 Instead of lying flat it seemed to turn on end and the spirals that ran up 

 from the other end formed a part of a big double spiral. It had a move- 

 ment that was peculiar, as if there was a commotion within it. The course 

 was rapid, and as soon as the big spiral was formed it began moving at a 



^Monthly Weather RevicAv, Washington, April 1886, p. 100. 



