100 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



that the tornadoes noted by the United States Signal Service Corps, during the 

 year 1878, occurred in that half of the storm area lying toward the equator. 



An area of low pressure, originating in tlYe Pacific Ocean, west of Oregon, 

 passed southeast over the Rocky Mountains and onward to central Texas, thence 

 to the northeast, finally leaving the United States at Cape Cod. The storm- 

 center was at Memphis, Tennessee, on the 7th of February, 1878, and on that 

 day destructive tornadoes occurred in Richmond county, Georgia, and during 

 the forenoon of the next day at Augusta, Georgia, and at Fayetteville, North 

 Carohna. These localities were from 300 to 400 miles south of the track of 

 minimum pressure. 



The next tornadoes of the year occurred on May 23rd, at Mineral Point, 

 Wisconsin, at Barrington, near Chicago, and at Quincy, Illinois. In this in- 

 stance the center of low pressure is traced from British America, just north of 

 the Montana line, (May 22nd,) eastward to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which it 

 reached on the 27th. The storm center reached the meridian of Mineral Point 

 early on the morning after the tornado. In this case, as in the others, the tor- 

 nado was 400 miles south of the path of minimum pressure, and at the time of 

 its occurrence, was 600 miles southeast of the storm-center. The storms at 

 Barrington and Quincy were near the outer borders of the storm-area, and 

 probably for that reason were much less destructive than the terrible cyclone 

 which devastated southern Wisconsin. 



Tornadoes occurred at Gardiner, Illinois, and at Davenport, Iowa, on May 

 31st. The storm-center was in southern Kansas on the morning of that date, and 

 in northwestern Iowa in the evening. Note the similarities of this with the pre- 

 ceding. 



A storm-center, originating in northern Colorado on the morning of June 

 I St, passed northeast, leaving the continent north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 At about three o'clock p. m. of the day named, a tornado occurred at Richmond, 

 Mo. ; at which time the storm-center was at Grand Island, Nebraska. This was 

 quite a destructive storm — over a hundred buildings being destroyed at Rich- 

 mond and thirteen persons killed. By turning to the map of the United States, 

 one can see how clearly this storm resembled that at Mineral Point in relative 

 positions of storm- center, and locality of tornado. About an hour after the 

 Richmond tornado, another took place on the Platte river near Clarke's Station, 

 Nebraska, and what is worthy of notice, within twenty miles of thfe storm-center, 

 but still to the southeast of it. 



A storm-center, originating on the evening of June 8th, in northwest Kan- 

 sas, moved east, reaching Cape May in just 48 hours. At 4:30 p. m., on the 

 9th, it had reached the extreme northeast corner of Kentucky. A tornado oc- 

 curred in Richmond county, Georgia, on this date — the hour not given in the 

 Chief Signal Officer's Report. Assuming that it occurred at 4:30 p. m. — the 

 hour of their most frequent occurrence, we find the storm- center about 400 miles 

 northwest, as in a number of instances previously cited. 



A storm-center was in Canada, just north of Lake Champlain at 1:20 p. m. 



