320 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 12. 



BAEOGEAPH EECOED DURING A TOENADO. 



The general fall of pressure during the 

 passage of cyclonic storms is an old obser- 

 vation. The short-lived rise of pressure 

 during the onset of a thunderstorm is of 

 more recent detection. The inferred very 

 low pressure in the funnel of a toi-nado has 

 never been tested by direct observation, un- 

 less the tracing of a barograph at Little 

 Eock, Arkansas, on October 2, 1894, may 

 show an effect of this kind. The tornado 

 passed over the Weather Bureau station at 

 8:28 p. M. of that day, and although the 

 upper story of an adjacent building was 

 blown upon the station, the instruments on 

 its roof generally destroyed, the windows 

 blown in and the furniture di-enched with 

 rain, the barogi-aph bravely continued its 

 record ; and its interesting curve is repro- 

 duced in the Monthly Weather Eeview for 

 the month in question. As the tornado 

 passed there was a momentary fall and rise 

 of 0.38 inch. Shortly afterwards the storm 

 passed over the gas works, and all the lights 

 in the city went out as if by relief of pres- 

 sure from the gasometer. As soon as the 

 cloud passed, the tank settled again, the 

 pressure was resumed, and the gas jets could 

 be lighted. Professor Abbe, editor of the 

 Weather Review, points out that the sudden 

 change of pressure recorded on the baro- 

 graph cvirve may have been merely a local 

 effect of decrease of pressure by wind suction 

 up the chimney, followed by restored pres- 

 sure when the windows were broken in ; 

 so the inferred low pressure of the tor- 

 nado funnel still eludes unquestionable 

 record. 



NEW YOEK STATE WEATHEE SERVICE. 



The fifth annual report of the New York 

 State meteorological bureau and weather 

 service, of which Professor E. A. Fuertes, 

 of Cornell University, is du-ector, is perhaps 

 the most elaborate and valuable of any of 

 the State service reports yet issued. Be- 



sides the summaries of monthly reports for 

 all stations for 1893, with good charts of 

 temperature and rainfall fi-om records at 

 about one hundred stations, there is a com- 

 prehensive chapter on the climate of the 

 State, bj^ E. T. Turner, meteorologist to the 

 State service, with a number of interesting 

 plates and charts. For example, the curves 

 of daily mean temperatures and pressures 

 exhibit to a nicety the greater fluctuations 

 of these elements in the winter, when cy- 

 clonic action is increased, than in summer, 

 when it is diminished. A neatly tinted 

 map, shaded for elevation, gives a clear 

 idea of the general relief of the State. The 

 few elevated stations in the Adirondacks 

 have a higher mean winter temperature 

 than those in the St. Lawi'ence valley, more 

 than a thousand feet lower ; a notable ex- 

 ample of this inversion having occurred un- 

 der an anticj' clone on December 8, 1890, 

 which is illustrated by a special chart. 

 Nocturnal winds, flowing northward past 

 Ithaca to Cayuga Lake, are described as 

 characteristic of the valleys of the southern 

 plateau ; they occur on clear nights, both 

 winter and summer, beginning one or two 

 hours after sunset and reaching a velocity 

 of about eight miles an hour before morn- 

 ing. The thickness of this current, as de- 

 termined by balloons, is only from fifty to 

 a hundred feet. Apart from the immediate 

 value of so well managed a service as this, 

 in the way of displaying weather signals 

 and distributing crop reports, it deserves 

 hearty support from the State in its long 

 task of collecting and discussing authentic 

 climatic data. The number of reporting 

 stations should, however, be largely in- 

 creased, and for this purpose the service 

 cannot do better than foster the adequate 

 teaching of meteorology in the public schools, 

 both by the publication of special articles 

 serviceable to teachers, and by making these 

 articles known at teachers' and farmers' 

 institutes. 



