Ammi, 1917. MONTHLY WEATHER BEWW. 169
Tbe whirl in the funnel cloud was laidy seen by a
not lainl evident m the distribution of the d6bris. A num t Y er o trees were twisted, some twisted off, and the
twisting was mostly in a counter-clockwise direction. By far the larger number of trees felled, however, fell for- ward as though blown down by a strai ht wind. Some made Werent no regularity coul be detected, either in the center line of the path or on either side. The path was nowhere
clear cut, many trees being left standing here and there even where the storm a parently had most force.
served, D to Z, was about 7 miles. The apparent speed of advance of the storm-reckoned from time observations at Seddon Island, Mango, and Seffner-was about 30 miles per hour and this ees closelv with the estimate. of several observers. %e width oi the path was about a hundred ards at the oint of reatest destruction.
Tornadoes ere uncommon in central Florida and the occurence of this one is for that reason more noteworthy. None has been recorded in this vicinity since the open-
ing of the Tampa office of the Weather Bureau in 1890; but according to newspaper accounts one of considerable intensity crossed the northern part of the city on March
17, 1887.
number of observers, and was counter-c P ockwise. It was
ea with the path o K the storm, but
The length of ath P rom A to Z was about 14 miles; the path over w E ‘ch the funnel cloud was actually ob-
The o d y person d e d was t % e Rayborn child.
SS/.S/.~ ( -e TOBN~DO OF MABCH ga,isi7, AT NEW ALBANY, IND.
By FEBDINAND J. WALZ, Professor of Meteorology.
[Weather Bureau Office, Louisville, Ky., Apr. 7,1817.1
New Albany, Ind., is situated on the north shore of the Ohio River, opposite the west end of Louisville, Ky. Its population is about 26,000. A short distance back of the city pro er there is a range of high hills popularly known as ‘‘h e Knobs,” but which in reality might be called bids of the Ohio River. The city is built on the flood plain at the base of these “Knobs,” which were previously supposed to offer complete protection from tornadic and s d a r destructive storms. The tornado d March 23, 1917, however, came from beyond these over a portion known as “Silver “ Knobs, ”
HiUs,” whence it escended into the valley or basin lyin between these hills and the Ohio River. It showe strength and great destruction occurred from the base of Silver H3ls eastward. The storm moved dong a nearly straight ath in an east-northeast direction, cutting a wide swa& through the entire north side of the city. The width of the path of practically total destruction vaned between 1,000 and
1,500 feet, with an area along each side varying between
600 and 1,000 feet in which there was a great deal of damage, mostly in spots. The length of the ath of the storm, as shown by the destruction in New &bans and vicinity, was about 33 miles. The storm continued on, however, in the same east-northeast direction and crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky about 10 miles above New It caused considerable damage at Harrods Creek, abm%i w ch lies in a direct east-northeast line from New K d A y (see f$. 1 on p~ 170).
Many arti es of urniture and clothing, and other debris carried away by the storm, were found on farm9 and fields in Kentucky 25 to 40 miles from New Albany, whence they came. A family picture, which was in a house occupied in part by the James F’ranconia Grocery,
2 passinf
Vincennes Street and Charlestown Road, New Albany, was found at Skylight, Ky., having been carried a dls- tance of 25 miles. Also a jar of sweet pickles from the
same grocery was found in a ditch on the same farm, the
jar bemg unin’ured. In the same vicinity were found articles of clotLg, shingles, roohg material, flooring, weatherboarding, a kitchen safe door, letters, and pa In New Albany 45 persons, men, women, and c h i l E ; were killed outmght, or have died since from their in- juries; severd hundred others were injured, a number of
whom will probably succumb to their Injuries. Between two and three hundred houses were destroyed, including several manufacturing lants, one large greenhouse, two schoolhouses, and one &+engine house and tower, while severd hundred more houses were damaged. Practically 2,500 people, including between 350 and 400 families, were made homeless. The district which suffered most severely consisted of cottages occupied and mostly owned by working peo le, and with then cotta es went not onlv their homes E ut
The most costly rosidence cau ht in the destructive path
stantial structure built of brick on a stone foundation, two stories and an attic in hei ht This structure was largely demolished, one inmatebed and several others injured. Mr. VanVreedenburg, one of the occupants of this residence, states that he and his mother were in a room on the second floor when the heard the approach
a sawmill buzzing in a low key. Almost immediatel the storm struck the house and the next thin he re f& ‘zed
of d6bris. The windows of the house were all gone, and a partition wall pushed in. Both sufFered injury, but neither was seriously hurt. The room in which they were was located on the windward side of the buildin
blown away. The stairway leading to the h t floor was torn down. Many large and beautiful old shade trees
and other trees at the De Pauw homestead were destroyed, a number being uprooted and others snapped off at the trunk. The storm he an at 3:08 p. m. and lasted only about five minutes. ?!few Albany, Ind., and surroundmgs are
plainly visible froin the windows of the Weather Bureau office in Louisville, Ky., the scene of the storm being about 43 miles in a northwest line from the office. The
their household goo 8 s, clothing, and ‘in fact, their all.
of the storm was the De Pauw B omestead, an old and sub-
of the storm, the sound of which he c9 escribes as resembling
was that he and his mother were in the mi 8 t of a mass
and the instant the storm struck, the windows were A
No tornado
not entirely destroyed were twisted off their foundations, together with the twisting of trees, shows tornadic force. The center line of the destructive forces of the storm was
plaid traced; also destruction seems to have been wroug 7l t more from a south direction than from a north; that 19, it appears in many instances that the wind force from the south side was greater than from the north side,
170 MON!I!HLY WEATHER REVIEW. APRIL, '1917
dthough this was not universall the case, as, for exam-
3 to 6 feet in a southeasterly direction. The storm obviously developed in connection with
the assage eastward of a lon trou h of low pressure in
m. (75th meridian time) weather map of March 33 showed an area of low pressure centered near Lake Michigan, and which extended in a trough from this center southward practically to eastern Texas. The windshift line of this trough at that time would extend
ple, one house was moved bo id y from its foundation
whi% there was a welldeh J d win shift line. The 8 a.
clouds apparently moving from the west. These cloud formations and movements clearly evidenced strong transverse and counter currents in the air as early as 7 a. m. Strong south winds, velocity ran@& between 30
and 35 miles per hour, prevailed at Louisville from the earl morning until 3:08 p. m., when they shifted sud- den& to west and attained a velocity of 52 miles per hour from that direction for a period of 5 minutes, from 3:08 to 3:13 p. m., the extreme velocity for 1 mile being at the rate of 60 miles per hour. Excessive rain, 0.73 inch, fell from 3:08 p. m. to 3:41 p. m., during which time
FIG. I.--Yap ofthevidnlty of New Albany, Ind. ahowing path of the tornado of March 23,1917. (Compiled by Weather Bureau from U. 9. oeOl0gical Survey map of JeITermn County K ., snd a let of New Gbsny, In&
1. Silver Hilb. 1. Olden Btreet Bchool. 3. Kshler wood Speoisltles. 4. Public Bchool.
Path Jtotsl d&uction is stippled; lateral zums of great damage are deliullted by dash lines; numbers mark Isolated localltles of extensive damage and refer as follom: S. Miss de Pauw's residence. 9. Cemetery. 12. Hosiery mills. IO. Sacobson's Kkhm Furniture
11. Wdm rmlls. pakml Harvester CO. 8. I. F. Tegart Publio Warehouse..
W. B. Weather Bureau ofUce in Louisville, Ky.
13. Shelby Street School. &ul*uriw co. 14. Soldiers' Cemetery.
+ Direction of movement.
from' Green Bay, Wis. southwestward through St. Louis to near Houston, rfiex. With the eastward move- ment of the general storm, the 8 . m. map (75th merid- ian time) shows this windshift ne then would extend from about Sault Ste. Marie Mich., through Cleveland, Ohio, and on through Kentucb east of Lexin on to near
over Louisville about 3 p. m. Low scuds of clouds were observed at Louisville in the early mornin driving rapidly from the southwest.
the southeast; while still above this layer were other
Atlanta, Ga. Thus the line evidently must f ave passed
Other clouds a gb ove this layer were driving rapidly from
there were two very hea dashes, (1) 0.32 inch from 3:08 to 3:2O p. m., and (70.20 inch from 3:36 to 3:41 p. m. The barometer fell steadily about 0.30 inch be- tween midnight and 10 a. m., and rapidly, 0.45 inch, from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m. The sudden drop at the time of the tornado was 0.10 inch, followed by an immediate rise of 0.20 inch, the tem erature falling at the same time from 69O to 58'. No xama e was done at Louisville,
I am submitting herewith a copy of the barograph trace made at the Louisville, Ky., station, located 4+
miles southeast of the tornado path; also a copy of the
although quite a thundersqua 5 1 was experienced.
h, 1917. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 171
barograph trace made at my residence at Castelwood, Ky., located about 3 miles southeast of the Louisville station, that is, about 73 miles southeast of the tornado belt (see fig. 1 and 2).
MARCH 23.1917
FIG. 2.-Barograms recorded bv Richard barographs at the Louisville office and at Castlewood, Py. accompanyiug the New Albany tornado (station pressures; 90th meridian time), showing effect of pressure changes.
Among the great mass of destruction, the following
seems to call for s ecial mention: The Olden Street School for colored c&ldren, in whic.h 40 teachers and children were athered, was entirely destroyed, all the inmates injuredi, 12 bein killed. Kahler’s Wood Specia K ties Manufacturing plant was completely destroyed, 8 men were killed and of the other occupants all but two were seriously injured.
One entire family, consisting of five persons, perishd; the father Edward Johns being decapitated and horribly mangled. A painter, Clarence Moss, while working on a house was killed by flying timbers, his head being severed from his body. Of another family of six, all but the father, who was awa at the time, perished. The mother and two chil&wn were killed in the house when it was demolished, while two small children who were in the front yard when the storm struck w m caught up and carried away, their bodies being found two squares from the ruins of their home. The body of another young girl was found about a quarter of a mile from her home where she was known to have been when the storm struck. Her home was absolute1 wi ed out not a piece bein left
through his body, but lived for a few days. A. Alice Hartley had her eyes put out by flying lass. The
standing. Charles k e w h k hah a fence pslin (riven f
money dama e is estimated between one an d one and a
million &-.
FISH -LED BY THE COLD WAVE OF FEBRUABY $3-4, 1917,
By RUY H. FINCH, Aeaiatmt.
[Dated: Seismological Investigations, Weather Bureau, Apr. 20,1917.]
55/. 52q (7 0 ) IN
An interesting occasional and but little known effect of cold waves over shallow waters of the Tropics and
sub-Tropics is the killing of thousands of fish. Many species are so chilled as to be rendered helpless and are either killed directly b drowning or are washed ashore in a comatose state. $his phenomenon is locally known as “freezin ” of fish, though the tern erature of the water ma f e several degrees above its P reezin point This k i k g of fish by chilling is not conhe% entirily to tropical and subtropical waters, for great quantities
are sometimes killed along the Atlantic coast as far north as New England during very severe cold waves, and it is an occasional fall and wmter accompaniment of the Texas norther.’ Somewhat similar effects have been reported from South There, however, the cooling of the water seems to be due to variations in position of cold ocean currents rather than to cold air tern eratures. TLs “freezing” phenomenon was observed in Florida during the cold wave of February 2-4, 1917, along most of the coast line, both Atlantic and Gulf, though in the northernmost regions affected mortality was coniked chiefly to shell fish and the smaller free swimming varieties. The cooling of the water is directly due to contact with cold air: hence the great expanses of shallow water surrounding the Florida Keys and in the numerous shallow bays, but little affected b tides, are excellent exposures for rapid cooling. Txe temperature fell decidedly during the night of February 2-3, and air temperatures at freezing were reached over most of the State esce t the Florida Keys, an air minimum of 4 3 .5 O
The greatest “freeze” of fish on record in Florida is that of January 12, 1586, when the lowest temperature ever observed in Key West, 41°, was reached. The countless thousands of fish washed up during this “freeze” were used as fertilizer at many laces. Resi-
beach with a basket under the arm and icked up selected
ashore. As a rule, gremarious s ecies were not dected as much
sea. d n g the east coast man varieties av ed them-
to it, where they remained until the return of normal
being reac f ed at Key West.
dents near the shore went fishing by stro I f ing along the
varieties of “frozen” fkh as fast as t \ ey were washed
as those of sofitar ha ?I its, for the former have the tendenc to leave t i e cold coastal waters and o out to
selves of the proximity of the d ulf Stream and went out
a t
temperatures. - In the neighborhood of Cedar Ken. as far north as marked mor&lity occurred, the maj6rity of the species
observed to have been killed were small fkh, 2 to 3 mches in length, crabs, small shrimp, sand worrns, etc. In the vicinity of Tampa some mullet, grunts, and jackfish were
killed. Farther south more and larger varieties were affected. In the neighborhood of Key West lar e barre
conchs and shellfish succumbed by the thousand; and one octopus of moderate size was noticed ap arently dead.
cuda and even sharks were thrown out upon the 5 eaches;
A great man fish were numbed by the co f d, and, if they were not was 1 ed ashore, came out all right as soon as the
1 Re rt of U 8 Fish Commission 1Fs8 pp. 68-72. SUnCn of Sdut’h Africa. Provine; of (he Cape of Good Hope. Marine Biological
i h e chillikg oit%swat& must also be due in art at least to condnotion to the und but chiefly to direct radiatio; info the cold ’ dry transparent Sir
Re ortNo 2 1914
chilled broughf%om to these w ~~l l latitudw by the mWUd w &h &&US.+. A., ]r.
p 1-4