370 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1319 



established, has been tbe subject of much 

 study. A rather full account of the storm 

 and its effects is given in the Monthly Weather 

 Review by Dr. H. C. Frankenfield, and others 

 in the regions affected.^ Appearing in the Ba- 

 hamas on September 6, the hurricane passed 

 through Florida Straits on the 9th, 10th, was 

 lost in the Gulf of Mexico from the 11th to 

 13th, went ashore on the south Texas coast on 

 the 14th and broke up in the southern Eock- 

 ies. A surviving portion may have formed the 

 germ for the cyclone with heavy rains' which 

 passed from northern !N^ew Mexico to the 

 Great Lakes from the 17th to 19 th. 



Although people in Key West had ample 

 warning, and did everything possible to pro- 

 tect shipping and buildings, the losses sus- 

 tained were estimated at $2,000,000. The 

 Weather Bureau official in charge, Mr. H. B. 

 Boyer says : 



Hurricane warnings were iimnediiately displayed 

 [oa receipt of telegram from Washington at 1 : 05 

 P.M. September 8] and the information dissemi- 

 nated by every available means. The response to 

 this warning was immediate and there followed a 

 period of great activity, especially as regards ship- 

 ping. Vessels were moved to safer anchorage or 

 better secured, and all weak places in residences 

 and buildings of all descriptions were strengthened 

 as much as possible by nailing and battening 

 doors, windows, roof hatches, etc In the terrific 

 gusts tlhat prevailed during the height of the storm 

 stanch brick structures had walls blown out and 

 large vessels, firmly secured, were torn from their 

 fastenings or moorings and blown on the banks. 

 . . . "Winds of gale force and over lasted continu- 

 ously from about 7 a.m. on the 9th to about 9:30 

 P.M. the 10th. 



The center of the storm passed about 30 or 

 40 miles south of Key West. The rainfall was 

 estimated at over 13 inches. The Weather 

 Bureau stationed at Sand Key, several miles 

 nearer the path of the center was all but 



6 September, 1919, Vol. 47, pp. 664-673, 639-641, 

 6 figs., 11 charts. 



T Very heavy downpours locally on the valley of 

 the Solomon Eiver in Kansas, September 17 and 

 18, caused a sharp rise in that river to 33.6 feet at 

 Beloit — 15 feet above flood-stage on the 20th. 

 nid., p. 674. 



washed away, the island, and all outstanding 

 and superstructures having been carried away 

 or blown down by waves or winds. As the 

 center passed over the Dry Tortugas the pres- 

 sure fell to 27.36 inches* (as observed on the 

 tank steamer Fred W. Weller), and the wind 

 about the center was estimated at 125 mi./hr. 



With one or two unimportant exceptions no re- 

 ports were received from the Gulf of Mexico after 

 the morning of the 10th until after the storm had 

 passed into Texas, which was during the day of 

 the 14th. It was, therefore, absolutely impossible 

 to forecast the intensity and progress of the 

 storm, and the coast stations far from the center 

 of tJhe storm afforded but meager information. 

 (Forecaster.) 



As one newspaper put it, " The Weather Bu- 

 reau suffered from its own efficiency," by hold- 

 ing vessels in port. Of the 10 vessels reported 

 lost or missing, one with 488 people, and the 

 other 25 reported damaged,^ none had left port 

 in spite of warnings, which were issued at 

 Florida ports September 8 and other Gulf 

 ports September 10. Later, such few logs as 

 were received from vessels caught in the Gulf 

 by the storm indicate that for a time the hurri- 

 cane was curving toward the Louisiana coast, 

 as surmised by the forecaster, and that it then 

 renewed its course westward, apparently be- 

 cause of a rise in atmospheric pressure in its 

 path, due to the approach of a high pressure 

 area. 



Although strong winds and a flood tide oc- 

 curred at Galveston, Weather Bureau warn- 

 ings saved three million bushels of grain and 

 many cattle. The damage at Galveston was 

 estimated at $60,000, and that in the vicinity 

 at about $200,000 more. 



At Corpus Christi and vicinity the weather 

 on the 13th, the day before the storm was op- 



8 Some other very low barometer readings in 

 other tropical cyclones have been: 27.06 in., Ha- 

 bana, Cuba, October 11, 1846; 26.85 in., Morne 

 Eouge, Martinique, August 18 or 19, 1891; 24.76 

 in., Vohemare, Madagascar, February 3, 1899; and 

 26.16 in., S.S. Arethma, lat. 13° 35' N., long. 

 134° 30' E., December 16, 1900. 



9 N. Y. Maritime Segister, September and Oc- 

 tober issues. 



