1881).] 



and May 1888 in the Boal and Ruhilkhand. 



161 



Destruction of Life and Peoperty-. 

 By far the most destructive of these storms was that which pass- 

 ed over Moradabad. Over 230, and probably close upon 250, people 

 were killed in Moradabad alone, chiefly by the hail. Sixteen men were 

 killed by hail, one by lightning, and 7 by falling trees and other causes 

 in the Bareilly district, and 5 men are reported as killed in Pilibhit. 

 The casualties thus amounted to about 280 in all, not counting any 

 which may have occurred in the native state of Rampur, over which the 

 storm passed. 



In the Tilhar storm only about a dozen men were killed altogether, 

 and the number of fatal cases at Delhi was about the same. 



The damage done to crops and trees has been variously estimated, 

 and probably but little reliance can be placed on any of the reports 

 regarding this point. The estimates of the value of animals killed and 

 buildings injured or destroyed are more trustworthy. At Moradabad, 

 where ))y far the greatest destruction of property as well as of life 

 took ijlaeo, the total damage done is estimated by the Collector at 

 Rs. 100,000. 



Relations of the Tornadoes to other Metrorologicai, Phenomena. 



Under the head of general weather it has been stated that, for several 

 days preceding those storms, there had been a steady influx of moist 

 easterly winds into the area affected by them, and that latterly this 

 was combined with a general fall in the barometer, whilst after the 

 storm there was a rapid increase of pressure, and west winds set in 

 again over the whole region. There may, therefore, have been some 

 direct and obvious connexion between the distribution of pressure and 

 the genesis of the storms, though the observations mSde at 8 A. m., when 

 the air is still undisturbed by the convection currents set up by the daily 

 action of the sun, do not show this connexion clearly. At all the stations 

 mentioned in the preceding tables, and at several others in the same 

 region, meteorological observations wore made at 10 A. M. and 4 p. m., 

 as well as at 8 A. m. The principal observations made at these hours 

 on the 29th and 30th April and the 1st and 2nd May are here given, the 

 actual pressures as well as their values at sea-level being shown. For 

 tlie hill stations the latter are of course very doubtful, and in reality 

 have no meaning whatever ; but the region affected by the storm lies 

 so close to the hills that its relation to the general trend of the isobars 

 could not bo properly shown without extending these over a part of tho 

 mountain region. In reducing the observations of the hill stations 

 to soa-levol, tho tcni]icra(ure has been assumed to increase downwards, or 

 20 



