*20
/         "STALKING A HURRICANE"
/  WHY ARE THERE FEWER DEATHS AND LESS PROPERTY DAMAGE
/FROM HURRICANES? ARE THE "BIG WINDS" GETTING WEAKER? OR
/FEWER IN NUMBER?
/  NOT AT ALL. THE HURRICANE REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST
/POWERFUL FORCES ON EARTH. DURING THE 1952 HURRICANE
/SEASON, SIX OF THESE COLOSSAL WHIRLWINDS ROARED THROUGH
/THE AMERICAN TROPICS WITH MOMENTUM ENOUGH TO CARRY
/SEVERAL OF THEM ON INTO NORTHERN AREAS AS THE WORST
/STORMS OF THE YEAR. BUT PROPERTY DAMAGE SET NO RECORDS,
/AND NO DEATHS COULD BE ATTRIBUTED DIRECTLY TO ANY OF THEM
/  YET IN 1935 A HURRICANE WHIPLASHED ACROSS FLORIDA AND
/THE DEAD TOTALED 400. IN 1928 ANOTHER FLORIDA HURRICANE
/TOOK 1,800 LIVES. AT GALVESTON, TEXAS, IN 1900, A HURRI-
/CANE KILLED MORE THAN 6,000, AND AS LATE AS 1942 CASUAL-
/TIES FROM THE BIG WINDS WERE STILL NUMBERED IN SCORES.
/  THE EXPLANATION OF REDUCED CASUALTIES AND SMALLER PROP-
/ERTY DAMAGE IN RECENT YEARS IS, IN THREE WORDS: BETTER
/ADVANCE WARNING...
/  DURING THE PROGRESS OF A MAJOR HURRICANE THE MIAMI
/HURRICANE WARNING CENTER, FOR EXAMPLE, ISSUES FOUR
/"ADVISORIES" - WEATHER VERSIONS OF A WARTIME COMMUNIQUE -
/DAILY, BASED ON REPORTS RECEIVED DURING THE PREVIOUS SIX
/HOURS. EACH WEATHER BUREAU OFFICE IN THE NETWORK THEN
/DISTRIBUTES THE FORECAST AS WIDELY AND AS RAPIDLY AS POS-
/SIBLE. PRECAUTIONS AGAINST HURRICANE DAMAGE - SUCH AS
/BOARDING UP HOUSES AND SHOPS, FLYING PLANES TO SAFER
/REGIONS, MOVING SMALL CRAFT, ETC.- ARE EXPENSIVE, SO
/EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW: "IS IT THE REAL THING?"
/  IN THE MEANTIME A SEARCH PLANE HAS MADE CONTACT WITH
/THE ENEMY. FAR AHEAD THROUGH THE RAIN SQUALLS THE PILOT
/SEES A DARK, OMINOUS-LOOKING MASS OF WHIRLING CLOUDS,
/MIST, AND WATER THAT SEEMS TO REACH UP INTO THE HEAVENS
/AND STRETCHES FULLY 30 MILES FROM SIDE TO SIDE.
/  WHEN THE PLANE RADIOS CONFIRMATION OF THE HURRICANE"S
/EXISTENCE, THE FIRST ACT OF THE HURRICANE WARNING CENTER
/IS TO GIVE IT A NAME. IF THIS IS THE SECOND HURRICANE OF
/THE SEASON, IT MIGHT BE CALLED "BAKER," FROM THE INTER-
/NATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET USED IN RADIO VOICE COMMUNIC-
/ATIONS. THE FIRST MIGHT HAVE BEEN CALLED "ABLE," THE
/THIRD MIGHT BE "CHARLIE," ETC.
/  BECAUSE A HURRICANE"S SAFEST POINT OF ENTRY IS USUALLY
/ITS WESTWARD SIDE, THE PLANE APPROACHES FROM THE WEST.
/AND FROM NOW ON, EVERY 15 MINUTES INFORMATION OBTAINED
/FROM METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS AND BY RADAR WILL BE
/RADIOED TO MIAMI.
/  THE PILOT BRINGS THE PLANE DOWN TO AN ALTITUDE OF 800
/FEET - OR EVEN TO 400 FEET IF VISIBILITY IS POOR. THE
/PLANE SHUDDERS AND SHAKES AS IT BUCKS THE OUTER RINGS OF
/LIGHT THUNDERSTORMS AMD 35-MPH WINDS WHICH TRY THEIR
/HARDEST TO DRIVE IT SOUTHWARD.
/  AFTER NEARLY AN HOUR OF SAMPLING THE AIR ON THE FRINGES
/OF THE HURRICANE, THE PILOT HEADS DIRECTLY INTO IT. THE
/HEAVY, FOUR-ENGINED SHIP PITCHES AND YAWS, DIVES AND
/SOARS AGAIN, UNTIL ITS CREAKING FRAME SEEMS TO BE TEARING
/APART. SEA AND SKY DISSOLVE IN PELTING RAIN AND SPRAY,
/AND THE SHRIEKING WIND DROWNS OUT EVEN THE ROAR OF THE
/ENGINES, STRAINING AT FULL THROTTLE.
/  AN INTERMINABLE QUARTER OF AN HOUR OF THIS - AND
/SUDDENLY THE PLANE BREAKS THROUGH THE STORM INTO THE
/CLEAR. ALL PITCHING AND TOSSING CEASES, THE HOWLING GALE
/QUIETS AS IF A VALVE HAD SHUT IT OFF, AND BRIGHT SUNSHINE
/POURS THROUGH THE DRENCHED WINDSHIELD. DOWN BELOW, THE
/SEA SHOWS A FEW WHITECAPS, BUT THE WHOLE ASPECT IS ONE
/OF PEACE AND CALM. THE TRANSITION IS SO SUDDEN AND UN-
/EXPECTED THAT IT COMES AS A SHOCK, EVEN TO CREWS WHO HAVE
/EXPERIENCED IT MANY TIMES.
/  THIS STRANGE WORLD, CALLED "THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE,"
/IS ONE OF THE WEIRDEST, MOST AWESOME SIGHTS ON EARTH. THE
/EYE IS ROUGHLY CIRCULAR. ITS BOUNDARY IS A VERTICAL CUR-
/TAIN OF BLACK, REACHING FROM THE OCEAN FAR UP TO THE OPEN
/SKY ABOVE. IT IS DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE THAT BEYOND THIS
/EBONY CYLINDER, NOW 10 TO 15 MILES IN DIAMETER, IS A
/WATERY CHAOS, REVOLVING FURIOUSLY IN A COUNTERCLOCKWISE
/DIRECTION AS IT IS DRIVEN BY GALES OF FROM 180 TO 200 MPH
/  STRANGE THINGS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED BY PLANES CRUISING
/THROUGH "THE EYE." FLOCKS OF BIRDS SOMETIMES TAKE REFUGE
/THERE, MOVING ALONG WITH THE COMPARATIVE SAFETY OF THE
/STORM"S VORTEX, WHICH MAY HAVE A FORWARD MOTION OF ONLY
/10 TO 15 MPH. SHIPS SOMETIMES SEEK "THE EYE" TO RIDE OUT
/THE WORST OF THE STORM"S VIOLENCE BEFORE RESUMING THEIR
/COURSE. ONE PLANE OBSERVED A FISHING BOAT, WITH THE CREW
/ON DECK SUNBATHING, WITHIN A HURRICANE"S EYE.
/  AS THE HURRICANE-STALKING PLANE CRUISES AROUND THE EYE,
/THE "DROPSONDE" OPERATOR GOES INTO ACTION. AS THE
/DROPSONDE, AN INSTRUMENT DROPPED FROM PLANE BY PARACHUTE,
/SLOWLY DESCENDS IT AUTOMATICALLY RECORDS ATMOSPHERIC
/PRESSURE, TEMPERATURE, AND HUMIDITY OF THE AIR, AND
/RELAYS THESE TO THE PLANE BY A SELF-CONTAINED RADIO
/TRANSMITTER.
/  BUT NOW THE FUEL IS GETTING LOW, SO THE PILOT PLUNGES
/BACK INTO THE BLACK WALL OF THE HURRICANE, CHOOSING THE
/WESTERN OR "WEAK" SIDE, WHERE, EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT HIM,
/A HEARTY TAILWIND CAN BE PICKED UP. FIFTEEN MINUTES MORE
/OF FURIOUS BUFFETING, AND THE TIRED CREW HEADS FOR THE
/BARN, CLIPPING THROUGH SQUALLS THAT WOULD BE BYPASSED BY
/ORDINARY PILOTS.
/  ALTHOUGH MANY HURRICANES SIMPLY VEER BACK OUT TO SEA
/AND FINALLY SUBSIDE IN THE COLDER CLIMATE OF THE NORTH
/ATLANTIC, EACH OF THEM IS CONSTANTLY PURSUED BY THE
/WATCHER PLANES, WHICH RADIO BACK VITAL INFORMATION NEEDED
/TO CHART ITS COURSE AND TO WARN SHIPPING AND OTHER PLANES
/IN ITS PATH.
/  WHAT ACTUALLY CAUSES A HURRICANE?
/  SCIENTISTS HAVE TWO THEORIES. ONE, THE CONVECTION
/THEORY, HOLDS THAT IT STARTS WHEN A LARGE MASS OF WARM
/AIR RISES IN THE DOLDRUMS OF THE OPEN ATLANTIC, EAST AND
/SOUTH OF THE WEST INDIES. SEA-LEVEL AIR RUSHES IN TO
/REPLACE THE VACUUM LEFT BY THE RISING WARM AIR. THE
/ROTATION OF THE EARTH DEFLECTS THE SLOWLY-MOVING AIR MASS
/INTO A COUNTERCLOCKWISE SWIRL. SOON A VIGOROUS WIND
/SYSTEM IS SET UP, AND A FULL-BLOWN HURRICANE IS ROARING
/ON ITS WAY. ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS TO TAKE GENERALLY A WEST-
/WARD COURSE, THE EARTH ACTUALLY MOVES EASTWARD UNDER IT.
/  THE SECOND THEORY IS THE COUNTER -CURRENT THEORY. IT
/EXPLAINS THAT OPPOSING TRADEWINDS, WARM AND COLD, CAUSE
/THE INITIAL AIR LIFT; THEREAFTER IT IS LIKE THE OTHER
/THEORY.