Outlines of a mechanical theory of storms — Background and Themes

een the passage of a vortex and the concurrence of the great atmospheric waves, it will, of course, happen only occasionally that all the circumstances will conspire to make a storm. There are also other modifying causes, to which we have not yet alluded, which influence the storms at different seasons of the year,--exaggerating their activity in some latitudes, and diminishing it in other latitudes. In this latitude, the months of May, June, and July are marked by more energetic action than August, September, and October. The activity of one vortex also, in one place, seems to modify the activity of another vortex in another place. But the great question to decide is: Do these vortices really exist? Do they follow each other in the _order_ indicated by the theory? Do they pass from south to north, and from north to south, at the _times_ indicated by the theory? Do they obey, in their monthly revolutions, a mathematical law connecting them with the motions of the moon? We answer emphatically, Yes! And the non-discovery of these facts, is one of the most humiliating features of the present age.

OTTOWA STORM, DECEMBER 22, 1852.

To show that the same calculations are applicable for other times, we will make the calculation for the _centre ascending_, for the 22d December, 1852, taking the following elements:

Moon's mer. passage, Dec. 22d 15h. 16m. G. time. " right ascension, same time 51° 57′ " declination north 15 42 " true S. Diameter 886.6″ " distance from node 37 " " " quadrature 52 -------- Which gives the arc AR 29 5 1st correction -1 51 2d +1 11 -------- Corrected arc AQ 28 25 --------

And the latitude at the time of the meridian passage = 42° north, or about forty miles north of Ottawa.

Abstract from the record:--

[14]_Dec._ 21st, 1852. Wind N.-E., fine weather.

_Dec._ 22d. Thick, hazy morning, wind east, much lighter in S.-E. than in N.-W.; 8 A.M., a clear arch in S.-E. getting more to south; noon, very black in W. N.-W.; above, a broken layer of cir. cumulus, the sun visible sometimes through the waves; wind round to S.-E., and fresher; getting thicker all day; 10 P.M., wind south, strong; thunder, lightning, and heavy rain all night, with strong squalls from south.

_Dec._ 23d. Wind S.-W., moderate, drizzly day; 10 P.M., wind west, and getting clearer.

The next day the vortex passed the latitude of Montreal (the moon being on the meridian about 10 P.M.)

MAGNETIC STORM, DECEMBER 23, 1852.

In the July number of Vol. XVI. of Silliman's Journal, we find certain notices of the weather in 1852, by Charles Smallwood, of St. Martins, nine miles east of Montreal. He mentions "two remarkable electrical storms (which) occurred on the 23d and 31st of December, (in which) sparks 5/40 of an inch were constantly passing from the conductor to the discharger for several hours each day." At 10 P.M. (23d) the vortex passed over Montreal, and again descending on the 31st North, and was visible at Ottowa on the morning of the 1st of January, with southerly wind setting towards it. On the 29th of December, Mr. Smallwood records "a low auroral arch, sky clear." On the 20th, the vortex was 5° to the northward of Montreal, and the aurora was consequently low--the brightest auroras being when the vortex is immediately north without storm, or one day to the northward, although we have seen it _very low_ when the vortex was three days to the north, and no other vortex near.

On the night of the 24th of December, the same central vortex ascending passed between Cape Clear and Liverpool.

On the 25th, at midnight, the vortex passed to the north of Liverpool: its northerly progress being very slow, being confined for three days between the parallel of Liverpool and its extreme northern limit in latitude about 57°. The accompanying account of the weather will show the result of a long-continued disturbance near the same latitude:

The Baltic, three days out from Liverpool, encountered the vortex on the night of the 23d. On the morning of the 25th, very early, the gale commenced at Liverpool, and did much damage. On the 26th, the vortex attained its northern limit; but we have not been able to procure any account of its effects to the northward of Liverpool, although there can be but little doubt that it was violent on the coast of Scotland on the 26th; for the next day (27th) the vortex having made the turn, was near the latitude of Liverpool, and caused a _tremendous_ storm, thus showing a continued state of activity for several days, or a peculiarly favorable local atmosphere in those parts. It is very probable, also, that there was a conjunction of the central and inner vortex on the 27th. The inner vortex precedes the central in passing latitude 41°; but as the mean radius of its orbit is less than that of the central, it attains to a higher latitude, and has, consequently, to cross the path of the central, in order again to precede it descending in latitude 41°. As a very trifling change in the elements of the problem will cause great changes in the positions of the vortices on the surface of the earth, it cannot now be asserted that such a conjunction did positively occur at that time; but, it maybe suspected, that a double disturbance would produce a greater commotion, or, in other words, a more violent, storm.

It is on this account, combined with other auxiliary causes, that the vicinity of Cape Horn is so proverbially stormy, as well as for the low standard of the barometer in that latitude, it is the stationary point of the vortices in ordinary positions of the nodes and perigee of the moon. We have already alluded to the fact, that none of the vortices scarcely ever pass much beyond latitude 80°, and then only under favorable circumstances, so that we ought to infer, that gales in high latitudes should set from the poles towards the storms in lower latitudes. This is, no doubt, the fact, but, nevertheless, a hard southerly blow _may possibly_ occur in high northern latitudes, if a storm should be raging very violently in a lower latitude on the opposite side of the pole, the distance across the circle of 80° being only about 1,400 miles. As the different vortices have a different limit in latitude every year, the determination of this turning point is obviously of great practical utility, as the fact may yet be connected with other phenomena, so as to give us the probable character of the polar ice at any assigned time. On this point we have more to say.

PASSAGES OF ALL THE VORTICES.

Our remarks have hitherto been confined to the central vortex. We shall now show from the record, that the other vortices are as effective in deranging the equilibrium of our atmosphere. In the following table we have given the passages of the different vortices, which will serve as their true positions within moderate limits, to calculate from, for all future time.

PASSAGES OF THE CENTRAL AND LATERAL VORTICES, OBSERVED IN JUNE AND JULY, 1853, IN LATITUDE 41° 20′ NORTH.

I signifying Inner; O, outer; C, central; A, ascending; D, descending.

____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | Order.|Vortex.| Date. | Meridian |Passage.| Calculated latitude | | | | | Passage. | | and Remarks. | |_______|_______|_________|__________|________|______________________| | | | | | | | | 1st | I. A. | June 22 | 7 A.M. | south | Centre. About 40°. | | | | 23 | 8 A.M. | north | Warsaw. Storm. | | 2d | O. D. | 27 | 0 noon | north | | | | | 28 | 1 A.M. | south | See record. | | 3d | C. A. | July 1 | 9 A.M. | south | | | | | 2 | 10 A.M. | north | Lat. 43°. Storm. | | 4th | I. D. | 7 | 5 P.M. | north | | | | | 8 | 6 P.M. | south | Lat. New York. Storm.| | 5th | C. D. | 12 | 5 P.M. | north | Aurora. | | | | 13 | 6 P.M. | south | Stormy, very. | | 6th | O. A. | 14 | 10 A.M. | south | | | | | 15 | 11 A.M. | north | See Record. | |_______|_______|_________|__________|________|______________________|

The intervals between the ascending and descending passages of the different vortices, are

Between I. A. and I. D. from 11 to 14 days. " O. A. " O. D. " 10 " 12 " " C. A. " C. D. " 9 " 11 "

and the effect is greatest when the vortex comes to the meridian before the sun, and least when after the sun; in which case the full effect is not developed, sometimes until the following day.

A brief abstract from a journal of the weather for one sidereal period of the moon, in 1853.

_June_ 21st. Fine clear morning (S. fresh)[15]: noon very warm 88°; 4 P.M. plumous _cirri in south_; ends clear.

22d. Hazy morning (S. very fresh) arch of cirrus in west; 2 P.M., black in W.-N.-W.; 3 P.M., overcast and rainy; 4 P.M., a heavy gust from south; 4.30 P.M., blowing furiously (S. by W.); 5 P.M., tremendous squall, uprooting trees and scattering chimneys; 6 P.M., more moderate (W.)

23d. Clearing up (N.-W.); 8 A.M., quite clear; 11 A.M., bands of mottled cirri pointing N.-E. and S.-W.; ends cold (W. N.-W.); the cirri seem to rotate from left to right, or with the sun.

24th. Fine clear cool day, begins and ends (N.-W.)

25th. Clear morning (N.-W, light); 2 P.M. (E.) calm; tufts of tangled cirri in north intermixed with radiating streaks, all passing eastward; ends clear.

26th. Hazy morning (S.-E) cloudy; noon, a heavy windy looking bank in north (S. fresh), with dense cirrus fringe above on its upper edge; clear in S.

27th. Clear, warm, (W.); bank in north; noon bank covered all the northern sky, and fresh breeze; 10 P.M., a few flashes to the northward.

28th. Uniform dense cirro-stratus, (S. fresh); noon showers all round; 2 P.M., a heavy squall of wind, with thunder and rain (S.-W. to N.-W.); 8 P.M., a line of heavy cumuli in south; 8.30 P.M., a very bright and high cumulus in S.-W., protruding through a layer of dark stratus; 8.50 P.M., the cloud bearing E. by S., with three rays of electric light.[16]

_June_ 29th. A stationary stratus over all, (S.-W. light); clear at night, but distant lightning in S.

30th. Stratus clouds (N.-E. almost calm); 8 A.M., raining gently; 3 P.M., stratus passing off to S; 8 P.M., clear, pleasant.

_July_ 1st. Fine and clear; 8 A.M., cirrus in sheets, curls, wisps, and gauzy wreathes, with patches beneath of darker shade, all nearly motionless; close and warm (N.-E.); a long, low bank of haze in S., with one large cumulus in S.-W., but very distant.

_July_ 2d. At 5 A.M., overcast generally with hazy clouds and fog of prismatic shades, chiefly greenish-yellow; 7 A.M., (S.-S.-E. freshening,) thick in W; 8 A.M., (S. fresh) much cirrus, thick and gloomy; 9 A.M., a clap of thunder, and clouds hurrying to N.; a reddish haze all around; at noon the margin of a line of yellowish-red cumuli just visible above a gloomy-looking bank of haze in N.-N.-W., (S. very fresh;) warm, 86°; more cumuli in N.-W.--the whole line of cumuli N. are separated from the clouds south by a clear space. These clouds are borne rapidly past the zenith, but never get into the clear space--they seem to melt or to be turned off N.-E. The cumuli in N. and N.-W., slowly spreading E. and S.; 3 P.M., the bank hidden by small cumuli; 4 P.M., very thick in north, magnificent cumuli visible sometimes through the breaks, and beyond them a dark, watery back-ground, (S. strong); 4.30 P.M., wind round to N.-W. in a severe squall; 5 P.M., heavy rain, with thunder, &c.--all this time there is a bright sky in the south visible through the rain 15° high; 7 P.M., clearing, (S.-W. mod.)

_July_ 3d. Very fine and clear, (N.-W.); noon, a line of large cumuli in N., and dark lines of stratus below, the cumuli moving eastward; 6 P.M., their altitude 2° 40′. Velocity 1° per minute; 9 P.M., much lightning in the bank north.[17]

_July_ 4th. 6 A.M., a line of small cumulo-stratus, extending east and west, with a clear horizon north and south 10° high. This band[18] seems to have been thrown off by the central yesterday, as it moves slowly south, preserving its parallelism, although the clouds composing it move eastward. Fine and cool all day--(N.-W. mod.)--Lightning in N.

_July_ 5th. Cloudy (N. almost calm), thick in E., clear in W.; same all day.

6th. Fine and clear (E. light); small cumuli at noon; clear night.

7th. Warm (S. E. light); cirrus bank N. W.; noon (S.) thickening in N.; 6 P.M., hazy but fine; 8 P.M., lightning in N.; 10 P.M., the lightning shows a heavy line of cumuli along the northern horizon; calm and very dark and incessant lightning in N.

8th. Last night after midnight commencing raining, slowly and steadily, but leaving a line of lighter sky south; much lightning all night, but little thunder.

8th. 6 A.M. Very low scud (500 feet high) driving south, still calm below, (N. light); 10 A.M., clearing a little; a bank north with cirrus spreading south; same all day; 9 P.M., wind freshening (N. stormy); heavy cumuli visible in S.; 10.30 P.M., quite clear, but a dense watery haze obscuring the stars; 12 P.M., again overcast: much lightning in S. and N.-W.

9th. Last night (2 A.M. of 9th) squall from N.-W. very black; 4 A.M., still raining and blowing hard, the sky a perfect blaze, but very few flashes reach the ground; 7 A.M., raining hard; 8 A.M. (N.-W. strong); a constant roll of thunder; noon (N.-E.); 2 P.M. (N.); 4 P.M. clearing; 8 P.M., a line of heavy cumuli in S., but clear in N-W., N., and N.-E.[19]

NEW YORK STORM, JULY 8, 1853.

"At 5 o'clock Friday afternoon, a terrible storm of rain, hail, and lightning, rose suddenly from the north-west, and passed over the upper part of the city and neighborhood. It was quite moderate in the lower part of the town, and probably scarcely felt on Staten Island. The whole affair lasted not more than a quarter of an hour, yet the results were most disastrous, as will be seen by the following accounts from our reporters:

"Happening to be in the neighborhood of the Palace about 5 o'clock Friday evening, we sought shelter under its ample roof from an impending thunder storm, of very threatening appearance, rapidly approaching from the west. We had scarcely passed the northern entrance, and reached the gallery by the nearest flight of steps, when the torrent--it was not rain, but an avalanche of water--struck the building; the gutters were filled on the windward side in a moment, and poured over an almost unbroken sheet of water, which was driven through the Venetian blind ventilators, into and half way across the north-west gallery, and also through the upper ventilators, falling upon the main floor of the north transept. Workmen hastened to close the blinds, but that did not prevent the deluge. The tinning of the dome being unfinished, the water, of course, came down in showers all over the centre. Many workmen were engaged on the dome when the shower struck it; several of them, in their haste to escape such dangerous proximity to the terrific lightning, came down single ropes, hand over hand. Large number of workmen were engaged all over the exterior, and such a scampering will rarely be witnessed but once in a lifetime. It was found impossible to close a north window, used for ingress and egress of workmen upon the rod, and the water came in, in almost solid columns. For a time the water was nearly two inches deep on the gallery floor, and poured down the stairs in miniature cascades.

"A great number of boxes, bales, and packages of goods lay upon the main floor, among which the water poured down from the edge of the gallery floor in destructive quantities; Fortunately but few goods were opened, and were upon the tables, or the damage would have been irreparable. As it is, we fear some of the goods are injured. In the height of the storm, the centre portion of the fanlight over the western entrance burst in, and several single lights were broken, by staging or otherwise.

"About ten minutes after the storm burst, the most terrific hailstorm we ever saw began to rattle, like discharges of musketry, upon the tin roof and glass sides. Some of the masses of ice were as large as hen's eggs. There were probably a thousand excited workmen in the building, and a good many exhibitors and visitors, among whom there were some twenty ladies, some of whom appeared a good deal alarmed at the awful din. A portion of the frame-work of the addition next to 42d street, went down with a terrible crash, and a part of the brick wall of the engine-house on the opposite side of the street, was blown over, crushing two or three shanties, fortunately without any other injury than driving the occupants out into the storm. But an awful scene occurred on the north side of 43d street, directly opposite the Latting Tower. Here two large unfinished frame buildings were blown, or rather, we should judge from appearances, were crushed down into a mass of ruins, such as may be imagined by supposing a great weight had fallen, with a circular, grinding motion, upon the first fine fabrics. One of them was partly sided, and had the rafters up, but no roof; the other was sided and rooted with tin, and was being plastered. We were told it was three stories high, 50 by 98 feet.

"We reached the ruins among the first, after the burst of the storm subsided a little. The scene was such as we pray God we may never witness again. A small portion of the roof and upper part of the front of the building stood or rather partly hung over the side-walk. The chamber and lower floor of the front rooms lay flat together. The sides were standing. In the rear all were down. In this building, besides the workmen, there were numerous laborers who had taken shelter under its roof when the storm drove them hurriedly from their work. How so many persons escaped death is truly wonderful. It can only be accounted for by supposing that they had a moment's warning, and rushed into the street. The first alarm was from the tearing off a portion of the tin roof, which was carried high over another building, and fell in the street. A horse and cart barely escaped being buried under this. It seems the frame of the other building came down with a deafening crash at the same time, confusing instead of warning those in danger. At any rate, before they could escape, they were buried in a mass of timber, and three of them instantly killed, and four or five dangerously wounded; and others slightly bruised and badly frightened. Several would have perished but for timely assistance to extricate them. In this they were greatly assisted by Jacob Steinant, boss carpenter of the Tower, who with his men rushed to the rescue, notwithstanding the pouring down torrents.

"In Williamsburgh, the storm lasted about fifteen minutes, doing an incalculable amount of damage to dwellings, foliage, &c. Hailstones came down in sizes from that of a hickory-nut to a large apple, some with such force as to drive them through the cloth awnings.

"The storm passed over Brooklyn lightly, in comparison with the effects across the Williamsburgh line. On Flushing avenue, beyond the Naval Hospital, a number of trees were uprooted, and the window-panes of the houses shattered. On the corner of Fulton and Portland avenues, three buildings were unroofed, and the walls of the houses were sprung to the foundation.

"On Spencer street, a new frame building was levelled with the ground. Along Myrtle, Classon, and other streets and avenues of East Brooklyn, many of the shade trees were uprooted, and the windows smashed. In Jay street, two trees were struck by lightning, but no other damage ensued.

"Several schooners at the foot of Jay street were forced from their moorings, but were soon after secured. A small frame house in Spencer street, just put under roof, was prostrated to the ground.

"We understand that a large barn filled with hay, situated on the road between Bushwick and Flushing, was struck by lightning and destroyed with its contents, embracing several head of live stock."[20]

_July_ 10th, 3 A.M. Overcast and much lightning in south (N. mod.); 7 A.M., clear except in south; 6 P.M. (E.); 10 P.M., lightning south; 11 P.M., auroral rays long but faint, converging to a point between Epsilon Virginis and Denebola, in west; low down in west thick with haze; on the north the rays converged to a point still lower; lightning still visible in south. This is an aurora in the west.

11th. Fine clear morning (N.-E.); same all day; no lightning visible to-night, but a bank of clouds low down in south, 2° high, and streaks of dark stratus below the upper margin.