METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 425 



the very centre of '' Low." As the wind is always toward " Low," it follows 

 'that the winds from all quarters must be toward it. North winds which are cold 

 as well as south winds that are hot, and the east and the west winds which com- 

 bine and partake of the two. 



The tornado or the hurricane, call it what you will, for it is all one without 

 •regard to name, is the result of " Low " and will always be foutid in and only in 

 the track of " Low" ; and every time "Low" has passed, and is passing over 

 the territory of the United States every three to five days — never regular in time, 

 speed, or direction — always peculiar and irregular in its qualities of concentra- 

 tion, power, speed, spread and direction; every time it passes we are liable 

 to have the fierce storm which we term the tornado or hurricane; and for 

 the reason that it always occurs in the track of " Low " as it passes to the 

 eastward, the Sun being the more powerful in this direction as it not only 

 has the direct power of "Low," but, so to speak, the momentum of "Low" in 

 its course to the eastward. But, it may be said, we sometimes have the tornado 

 with a north wind, which would seem to contradict this ; then in the United States 

 it may apparently be so, or locally so, but the power that creates it is the while 

 moving to the eastward. Along the Atlantic sea-board, particularly in the vicin- 

 ity of Washington, the hurricane will at times occur with a northwest wind for the 

 same general reason that water forming the whirlpool does not travel in a straight 

 line toward the center, if it did there would be no whirlpool. The waters com- 

 ing with force from every direction act and react upon each other; the result is 

 to establish a circular motion of the currents; so with the winds toward " Low" ; 

 they approach " Low " from all points of the compass; their action upon each 

 other establishes a circular motion to the currents. The circle is large, so not- 

 withstanding it may be locally a northwest wind it is really toward the centre, 

 "Low," which has passed the locality to the eastward; and the wind blowing in 

 this manner is what gave rise to the idea that the wind blows, between "High" 

 and "Low," so that if you stand with your right hand toward "Low" and left 

 hand toward "High" the wind will be your face. The wind may in some 

 places be in your face, yet it is all the while seeking the centre "Low"; not in 

 a straight line, but in a grand volute curve. 



I may be wrong, but I cannot see wherein the coming together of the so- 

 called warm and cold currents causes the tornado. If the warm and cold cur- 

 rents meet , (and they do), they are meeting all the time at the very centre of 

 "Low" and not in the track of "Low" where the tornado takes place; and if 

 they meet all the time it would seem that they should all the time produce the 

 same effect and give us the tornado not only every day but every hour of the 

 day; but we see that they do not — that a great many "Lows" pass over the 

 country without producing a tornado. The tornado occurs late in the afternoon 

 when the Earth has become heated to its maximum point — occurs in warm weath- 

 er, and seldom if ever in cold, and only with a high "Low," or perhaps better, 

 with a " Low " that is traveling on a high line or toward a high line. 



August 26, 1881, a hurricane occurred at Charleston, S. C. The "Low" 



