20 WEST INDIAN HURRICANE 



Available records show that, considered singly, the islands of the 

 Lesser Antilles are comparatively free from hurricane visitations, 

 and that the occurrence of destructive storms increases westward 

 over the Greater Antilles to central and western Cuba, not for 

 entire islands, but for corresponding areas. The cause of the 

 varying frequency of hurricanes in different parts of the West 

 Indies is found in a consideration of their average paths. Prac- 

 tically all the storms of the Lesser Antilles move westward in 

 very narrow paths, and the proportion of storms that recurve 

 northward is increased with increasing longitude until central 

 and western Cuba is reached, where a fairly well-marked region 

 of maximum frequency and recurve is found. Again, many of 

 the storms that reach the Greater Antilles, and more especially 

 Cuba, have their origin over the Caribbean Sea, and move thence 

 northwestward toward Cuba or the Gulf of Mexico. 



As regards the relative likelihood of hurricanes for the several 

 -months of the stormy season, it is shown that the tracks of West 

 Indian cyclones shift further to the northward and westward as 

 the season advances, and that while August and September are 

 more likely to produce hurricanes in the Lesser Antilles and the 

 more eastern of the Greater Antilles, the chance for hurricanes 

 in Cuba is greater in September and October. In referring to 

 this general law, the late Rev. Benito Vines, S. J., remarked as 

 follows: "This fact is of such ancient belief that the ecclesias- 

 tical authority from time immemorial wisely ordained that 

 priests in Puerto Rico should recite in the mass the prayer 'Ad 

 repellendat tempestes ' during the months of August and Sep- 

 tember, but not in October, and that in Cuba it should be recited 

 in September and October, but not in August, all of which proves 

 that the ecclesiastical authority knew by experience that the 

 cyclones of October are much more to be feared in Cuba, but 

 not those of August, and that in Puerto Rico, on the contrary, 

 the hurricanes of August are disastrous, while those of October 

 are very rare." 



The limits of this article will not permit a discussion of theories 

 regarding the origin of tropical storms or the laws and conditions 

 which govern their movements. The regions in which they have 

 their origin and the paths which they commonly follow have 

 been referred to, and in conclusion it may be stated that all their 

 movements, considered normally, are apparently influenced or 

 governed by the trade winds and the position of the Atlantic 

 anti-cyclonic area. 



