THE WEST INDIAN HURRICANE OF SEPTEMBER, 1900 387 



the observer reports a greater velocity from the southeast after the 

 anemometer had been blown away. The lowest barometric reading 

 indicated b}'- the barograph was 28.53 inches at 8.10 p. m., 75th 

 meridian time, at which hour the vortex of the hurricane passed 

 Galveston. The tide, which came in rapidl}^ during the afternoon 

 and the early portion of the nigiit, covered the entire city to a depth 

 of si.x; to fifteen feet, and swept the soutliern and eastern portions of 

 the citv entirely away. The water began to subside slowly at 11 

 p. m. of the 8th, and b}^ the morning of the 9th high portions of the 

 city were dr\^ 



Following its northward recurve, the disturbance advanced north- 

 ward over Texas, Oklahoma, and eastern Kansas, and arrived in 

 Iowa the morning of September 11. During its passage over the 

 interior of the country on the 9th and 10th, the storm was unattended 

 by violent winds, and its entire dissolution was probably averted by 

 the advance of a low barometer area from tlie northwest, which 

 recruited its waning forces. Thus strengthened, the storm under 

 discussion passed eastward over the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence 

 Valley and thence over Newfoundland, constantly increasing in in- 

 tensit^^ It then disappeared beyond the region of observation, 

 having described a charted path more than four thousand miles in 

 length. 



As satisfjdng descriptions of storms require a reference to the mete- 

 orological conditions which appear to contribute to tlieir normal and 

 abnormal movements and cause the var^ang degrees of intensit}' ex- 

 hibited, the following statement of these conditions, made by the 

 writer some years ago, is presented : 



The recurve of storms in the West Indies and over the Gulf of 

 Mexico is dependent on general meteorological conditions, and more 

 especially on the distribution of atmos|)heric pressure. The anti- 

 cyclonic or high i)ressure area of the North Atlantic Ocean lies north- 

 east of the West Indies, and causes east to northeast winds over the 

 Southern Atlantic Ocean and the Caril)bean Sea. These are the 

 northeast trade winds. The storms tliat develop in the region east 

 of the West Indies, and also those of a more western origin, have a 

 tendency to follow the course of the main equatorial current over the 

 Caribl)ean Sea. This course is doubtless largely intiuenced bv the 

 general drift of tiie atmosphere in that region, and, following the 

 anti-cyclonic circulation of winds, the hurricanes skirt the western 

 fjuadrants of the Atlantic hiL;h area, and, carried by the main atinos- 



