TORNADOES. 
133 
about until they are carried out beyond the storm and 
sometimes set down unharmed. 
A tornado passing near Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1893, 
picked up a six-months’-old child, and after carrying it 
Fig. 68. —Tornado funnel cloud moving in a spiral around the 
vacuum center. Its vapor C, condensed by expansion and 
ascent, appears considerably below the ordinary cloud level 
FIl. (From Story of the Atmosphere.) 
through the air a distance of three-quarters of a mile, 
gently laid its sleeping burden down in a corn-field. 
The child did not seem to be at all discomfited by its 
airy flight, for it greeted its finders with a smile. 
Many other curious incidents accompanying tornadoes 
might be added. 
The upward current of air is usually warm, and 
carries with it a large amount of moisture; this the 
cold air above condenses and pours down in brief 
torrents of rain, accompanied by lightning and other 
electrical phenomena. 
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