148 



S. A. Hill — Tornadoes and Hailstorms of April [No. 2, 



There can be no doubt, therefore, that as in the case of the 600 tornadoes 

 in the United States investigated by Finlay, the wind blew in whirls 

 according to the usual law of cyclonic circulation for the northern hemi- 

 sphere ; but the whirling movement was combined with a rapid move" 

 ment of translation from West to East which had the eifect of 

 greatly increasing the velocity of the westerly currents blowing on tho 

 south side of the centre, and partially or completely annulling that of 

 the easterly currents on the north side. The velocity of the wind in tho 

 Moradabad storm has been roughly estimated at 60 miles per hour. If 

 this be accepted as the velocity of rotation, the actual velocity of the 

 west winds must have been about 90 miles, and of the easterly ones only 

 30 miles per hour. 



It is greatly to be regretted that in none of the storms mentioned 

 was any competent European officer able to devote his time to the 

 local investigation of the direction and force of the wind, by the exami- 

 nation of its destructive effects on buildings and trees, a task which has 

 been so ably perfoi-med by Dr. Crombie in the case of the Dacca tornado. 

 It is also to be regretted that no local meteorological observations are 

 forthcoming ; though, as Mr. Mackintosh, the Collector of Moradabad, 

 very justly remarks, when people's roofs have been carried off, or are 

 tumbling in, the circumstances are not conducive to the taking of correct 

 observations. 



Except at Moradabad no estimate has been made of the velocity of 

 the wind. The Collector of Bareilly estimates its pressure at Baheri 

 and Nawabganj during the passage of the Moradabad storm at 28 lbs. to 

 the square foot, which would correspond to a velocity of about 75 miles 

 an hoar, and is probably not far from tho truth. At Tilhar, the force 

 must have been very considerable. Trees were blown to distances of 

 10 or 15 yards, and roofs were carried 25 or 30 yards. For the Budaun 

 storm the tahsildai-s give curious and fanciful estimates of the wind's 

 force, which at one place was considered equal to the strength of 3 

 elephants and in another to 16 horses combined. One curious effect 

 of the pressure of the wind is given by the Moradabad correspondent of 

 the Givil and Military Gazette. A train of empty goods waggons, stand- 

 ing on a siding at Moradabad station, was blown along the line to a 

 distance of nearly two miles, where it came into collision with a strong 

 bullock, and whether owing to this accident or to a shift of the wind's 

 direction it was there derailed, and toi-e up the line for a considerable 

 distance. 



As regards ascending currents near the centre of the tornado, the 

 Moradabad report indicates tho probability that there was a strong 

 aspiration in an upward direction. The way in which tho verandah.^ 



