214 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. lioa 



In order to estimate the water from moun- 

 tain snowfall which will become available in 

 summer, snow surveys are made every spring 

 in the mountains of the west. Type water- 

 sheds are surveyed; and the snow is estimated 

 on adjacent ones. The use of a snow sampler 

 gives best results. Several sections of tubing 

 of small diameter are used to cut vertical snow 

 cylinders. This is done at a great many 

 points; and the water content of the snow 

 determined by weight.^ 



WEST INDIA HURRICANES 



Two very intense tropical cyclones visited 

 the gulf coast in August and September, 1915, 

 the first taking its gTeatest toll of life in Texas 

 and the second in Louisiana. The 1915 Gal- 

 veston storm made its appearance the morn- 

 ing of August 10 between Dominica and the 

 Windward Islands of Barbados. The storm 

 on passing Haiti, Jamaica and Cape San 

 Antonio, Cuba, did immense damage to the 

 banana and sugar crops; and sank one large 

 steamer. In Texas the loss of life was 275 ; and 

 in the severe floods occasioned as far as the 

 Ohio Valley 30 were drowned. The cyclone 

 passed out the St. Lawrence Valley August 

 23. The lowest pressure reading (reduced to 

 sea level) was 28.20 inches (955.6 kb. or mb.) 

 at Houston ; the highest wind velocity for five 

 minutes was 93 miles per hour, at Galveston. 

 Wtile the high tide at Galveston was about the 

 same as in 1900, less damage resulted owing 

 to the protection afforded by the sea wall and 

 the elevation of part of the city. 



The land winds on the coast of southern 

 Texas brought on the highest temperatures 

 ever recorded at Brownsville (104° F.), and 

 Corpus Christi (100° F.). In Texas the cen- 

 tral calm of the cyclone was about 6 miles in 

 diameter, and its forward movement was 15 

 miles per hour.^ 



One of the most thorough studies ever made 

 of a tropical cyclone was that conducted by Dr. 

 I. M. Cline of the Weather Bureau at New 



5 Professor J. E. Church, University of Nevada, 

 Second Pan-American Scientific Congress. 



6 See Mo. Weather Review, August, 1915. 

 ' See Mo. Weather Sev., September, 1915. 



Orleans, September 29, 1915.' The storm 

 originated near 64° W. longitude in the Carib- 

 bean Sea September 23 and passed over New 

 Orleans six day later. The sea level pressure 

 minimum of 28.11 inches (952.5 kb. or mb.) at 

 New Orleans established a new low record for 

 the United States; and the winds attained 

 tremendous velocities. At New Orleans the 

 maximum for 5 minues was 86 miles per hovir, 

 and for half a minute, 130. At Burrwood, 

 Louisiana, where the wind had an unobstructed 

 sweep, the average velocity for 3 hours was 

 103 miles per hour, reaching 116 for 20 min- 

 utes, 124 for 5 minutes, and for about half a 

 minute the rate of 140 miles per hour. While 

 there may be doubt as to the accuracy of the 

 cup anemometer, these figures give some 

 quantitative measurement of the tremendous 

 violence of the wind. The wind is described as 

 coming in a series of puils of a few seconds' 

 duration. The wind did not veer gradually 

 but changed suddenly from one point to the 

 next ; and just before each change the rainfall 

 was intense. So violent was the wind that 

 probably no house in New Orleans escaped 

 damage. The total rainfall at New Orleans 

 was 8.20 inches, but was as high as 14.43 in 

 Washington County. Fifty miles west of the 

 center the rainfall was negligible. The pres- 

 sure gradient was 1 inch (33.9 kb. or mb.) in 

 50 miles. The central calm was about 8 miles 

 and the whole storm (pressure below 29.50 

 (999.3 kb. or mb.)) 250-300 miles in diameter; 

 and it progressed at about 12 miles an hour. 

 The high tide overtopped the levees south of 

 New Orleans and on the north overflowed from 

 Lake Ponchartrain into the western part of the 

 city. The loss of life was probably 275, and of 

 property $13,000,000, of which a third was 

 in New Orleans. The westerly course of both 

 hurricanes was due apparently to the presence 

 of high pressure areas in the east central 

 United States. The relatively small loss of 

 life in two such intense hurricanes is due 

 largely to the ample warnings given by the 

 United States Weather Bureau. 



The weather immediately preceding the for- 

 mation of a West India hurricane is usually 

 hot, damp and calm. The region of origin is 



