A REAL TORNADO

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 85, 13 May 1929, Page 8

A REAL TORNADO

HALF A HAYSTACK CARR1ED TWO MILES. POSTS TOIIN FROAI GROUND. Details bave just reached the 5Iei tcorological Office of a tornado wliicli ! visitcd Ivaimai, wliicli is inlancl from ! tbe Bay of Plcnty. Tliis pheiioinenon was witnesscd during a cyelonic storm . wliicli visited the Dominion on April j 2S. Tbe cyclone was centred at tlie j timo wcst of tlie Bay of Plcnty, and : thc tornado was a direet result of it. | Eyc witncsses describe liow tlie tor- | nado came over a hilltop and down tbe j side. Its patli was marked by a wliirlj ing spiral coluinii of fcrn and trees, i the track wliicli it cut through tlie ! vegetatioi) was about a ehain wide. In ' its path lay a haystack, a manure slied i and some pigsties. 31 11 If thc haystack was transported toa spot two miles away, where it was dropped bodily after its aerial journey, and tlie other lialf was scattred in all directious. Tlio manure slied, constructed of two-incli slabs and corrugated iron, was carried 200 fect up into thc air, whirlod round and round sevcral times, and tlien dcposited in pieces far and wide, tliree or four slieets of corrugated iron being subscqucntly found six miles away. Of tbe pigsties very little was left. Posts were toru out of the grouud, and a 50-gallon water barrel carried a distance of ten chains. A pile of 80 substantial fencing posts was carried through the air into a swamp many chains away. Tlie damage done altogetiier bas been cstimated to be only about £20. It was fortunate tliat tlie tornado only struck a sparsely populated distript. Commenfing on thc visitation, Dr. E. Ividson, Director of Meteorlogical Services, said tliat lie was very glad to havo particulars of the tornado from an eve-witiiess. Tornados were. not eommon in New Zealand, and were usually small, and not nearly so destructive in tlieir offects as those sometimes expcrienced in tlie United States. where at times tliey wero accomanied by a substantial dea.th 10II, as could be seen by reccnt cables. A. torniulo, said Dr. Kidson, was a" small, but very iiitense. whirl in tlie atmospliere, varying iu diameter from a few yards to about tbree miles. The wbirling of tlie winds round tlie central core caused a very low pressure with a strong suctiou cffeet. Heavy objects were lifted from tbe ground and carried along by tlie central core of the whirl. Damage to buildings was particularlv severe because when tbe tornado reached tbem tbe air pressure outsidc became very mucli lower than tbe air pressure inside the buildings. Hence windows, doors and weak spots burst outward, and through tlie lioles tlie hurricane winds entered and wr o 11 gbt their damage. Tornadoes followed tlie track of tlie prevailing wind at the time, and tliere was usually a dark column of wbirling vapotir stretcliing from the clouds nbove to tbe ground beneatb. Tbis feature, liowever did' not seem to have been remarked upon by tliose wlio saw tbe Kai mai tornado. Dr. Kidson has sent a letter of tlianks to thc senders of the information about tlie tornado, explaining to tbem tbe nhenomcnon. which tlie writer deserved as a "miracle."