HURRICANES. 225 



At the beginning of the season some of the Hurricanes of June and July 

 keep well to the South and cross the Caribbean Sea, and at times also the 

 Island of Cuba, in a W. by N. direction approximately. From the begin- 

 ning of August to the end of September these Tropical Cyclones, in the first 

 part of their track, take generally a W.N.W. direction or a course between 

 W.N.W. and N.W., and all of them recurve outside of the Tropics, gene 

 rally between lat. 27° and 33°. 



As the season advances, the initial direction of the tracks inclines more 

 to the Westward, the Hurricanes keep farther South and recurve in lower 

 latitudes, so that those of October, and even some at the end of September, 

 come to us (at Havana) from the Southern part of the Caribbean Sea, and 

 recurve in the vicinity of the Tropic of Cancer, or before reaching it, with 

 this peculiarity, that where several have come in succession, each one has 

 recurved not only in a lower latitude, but also farther West than the pre- 

 ceding. The interval in these cases from one to another is not less than 

 twelve or fourteen days. These Hurricanes are without doubt the most 

 to be feared for the Western portion of the Island of Cuba.* 



The illustrative diagrams, mainly derived from the United States Pilot 

 Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, show the circulation of the winds 

 in a normal West Indian Hurricane. The large arrows show the direction 

 of the path along which the Storm is advancing, according to the latitude; 

 the small arrows fly with the wind, and show the indraft or incurve 

 towards the centre. The central shaded portion shows the specially 

 dangerous region, and the right hand side of this, facing the Storm's path, 

 is Che dangerous semicircle, about which more will be said later on. 



(164.) Mr. Eedfield says : — At slations within the Tropics, the changes of 

 wind, during the passage of the Hurricane, are sometimes known to exceed 

 those which pertain to the passage of a regular circuit of wind ; these changes 

 Bometimes running through the entire circuit of the compass, and eveo 

 more. Again, they have been known to shift backward and forward, in 

 alternate and fitful changes, when near the crisis of the Storm. These 

 phenomena, so far from disproving the rotative character of these gales, 

 only prove something more, and afford, at least, probable evidence in 

 support of one or both, of the following positions : — 1. That high land and 

 other obstructions often produce sudden and fitful gusts and changes in 

 these violent winds. 2. That, in accordance with our observations of minor 

 vortices, the action of rotation is often impelled, excentrically, around a 

 smaller circuit, in the interior of the advancing Storm. 



In the Northern inter-tropical latitudes the recession or departure of the 

 South -Eastern limb of the Storm appears to be followed, not unfrequently, 

 by strong squalls or gusts from the S.E., this being the true course of the 

 general Trade Wind which determines the track of the Storm. These gusts, 

 or squalls, if mistaken for the regular action of the Hurricane, may occasion 

 erroneous deductions in regard to the course of the Storm. 



At stations apparently within the regular track of the Storm, there will 



• " Apuutes relatives a los Huracanes de las Antillas en Setiembre y Octubre de 1875 

 y 1876," by Padre R. P. B. Vines. 



