Countless people standing on the shore were stunned by what they saw. A large water column with a diameter of 44 meters and a height of more than 0.8 meters stands less than 6 miles off the coast of South Tackett Bay in Massachusetts, USA, like a black living monster.
The American coast has not seen a tornado for 27 years. As for such a large size, so many people can watch it safely on the shore, which is unprecedented. On the afternoon of August 1896, the residents of Manshavinya Island watched it in fear for 40 minutes.
What is a tornado? How to form? Where does it appear? A tornado is basically a vortex rolled up by wind and water, similar to a land tornado, but it appears at sea. There are two different types of waterspouts. The first type is usually caused by a tornado or tornado cloud formed on land and blown into the sea. This kind of tornado is like a land tornado. The wind is very strong, rolling up a dangerous vortex, like a black funnel, and the sea of clouds is surging at the top. The second type is more common, and it is the water column that appears when the weather is clear. This kind of water column is different from that caused by storms. It forms on the sea surface and spins into the air, much like a common dust roll on land. The water column that appears on a sunny day is usually small and short-lived. In fact, it won't cause disaster. It just looks strange, not terrible. The water column in the waters of Manshavinya Island is really thrilling, and it is definitely the kind that was blown into the sea by a tornado.
1896 on the morning of August 19, the weather was warm with slight northerly winds and clouds. At noon, the northwest is covered with thunderclouds, which indicates that the wind and rain will come and the weather will get worse. While the residents are having lunch, the cumulonimbus cloud has reached the junction of Manshavinya Island and two bays in South Tackett, and it looks like rain.
12: 45, someone shouted: "Hailongjuan! Hailongjuan! " In a flash, dozens of people have flocked to the coast to see its elegant demeanour. This scene appeared about 12 minutes, and people near the beach just saw it. Eyewitness Garrett recalled the scene at that time and said, "We were on the beach and saw a strange cloud in the sky. At first, there was a strange thing hanging on the cloud. Some of us thought it was an icicle. When everyone turned and walked home, someone looked back and saw that the icicles had changed, so we stopped to watch. I saw it getting bigger and bigger, like a slender gray-white fog curtain. When the fog curtain slowly hangs down, the sea water in the bay rises. "
This bright gray thing gradually turns black, almost at right angles to the sea surface, and then spreads upward into a funnel shape until it reaches the bottom of the cloud. When the local photographer set up the camera, the water column had dissipated. At this time, the beach was crowded with people. The water column disappeared, but the sea water under the big cloud kept boiling. Obviously, there is a powerful whirlwind. Although it is temporarily invisible, it may reappear at any time.
Sure enough, that cloud gave birth to a black funnel at 1 pm, which was much wider than the previous one. This time, the funnel tube is getting thicker and thicker, and it moves slowly and steadily to the southeast, with clouds on it. Pastor North, who is on vacation, is also deeply attracted by this scene: "The sea level is like a mirror, the air is almost motionless, the sun is shining, the blue sky is full, and Xia Yun is floating everywhere;" At this time, a mass of black water vapor appeared in the sky, dragging a water column straight into the water, which formed a strange contrast with the clear sky background. In addition, there is blue-gray lightning, which penetrates the dark clouds in the sky from time to time, making the whole scene more mysterious. The place where the water column meets the dark clouds is slightly funnel-shaped, and the diameter of the column runs through. The sea water at the bottom of the column stirred up a mass of foam, which was as high as the mast wall of a galleon. "
The people on the shore are too far away to hear the roar of the huge column. The sailboat "Avalon" is located between the water column and the coast, so people on board have different feelings. This monster is not only doubly huge and terrible, but also the power of the whirlwind is dumbfounded.
In the afternoon 1 point 18, the water column slowly dissipated. But two minutes later, thousands of people on the shore saw the spectacle reappear for the third time. This time it is not cylindrical, but conical. The top is faintly visible at sea level. The pillar bends to the southeast in a graceful manner.
After 5 minutes, the cyclone gradually weakened, the cohesion decreased, and finally the water column dissipated. Dwight, a professor of geology at Vasa College, happened to be on vacation in Manshavana Island. He described the amazing scene of the last scene like this: "When this natural phenomenon is about to disappear, the eastern part of the sky is quite dark, but the sun shines on the western part of the sky and shines towards the dark east. The beautiful scenery at that time was really hard to find and can't be described in words. The water in the bay stretches for miles and is brightly illuminated by various colors. There are bright blue, green, yellow and gray, piece by piece, determined by the color of seabed sand and seaweed. The water column and the dark clouds of the scenery set off all kinds of colors more strongly. Thousands of people gathered on the beach and watched intently with admiration and fear. "
After the cyclone disappeared, the sea surface calmed down. The three wonders ended at 1 28 pm. The whole process lasted for 40 minutes from the first discovery of water column on the beach to people scrambling to tell.
After the tornado disappeared, a cold front followed, sweeping Manshavinya Island. In the afternoon 1: 03, it began to thunder. At 3 o'clock, the rain poured down. Dr. Abbott, the state health director, described the subsequent situation: "Shortly after the tornado disappeared, there was an obvious atmospheric disturbance. At about 1 hour, there was lightning and thunder, and heavy rain and hail poured down. At first there were dense dark clouds in the northwest, and then there was a strong wind in the southwest. In an instant, the wind direction changed from northeast to southeast, and then from southwest to northwest. At 2 pm, the temperature is 56? . The temperature in this place hovered around 70 degrees all summer. Up and down, 56? It can be considered very low. "
Professor Bigelow, a meteorologist from the US Meteorological Administration, made a detailed study of this natural phenomenon. He interviewed many witnesses, some of whom were observers from the Meteorological Bureau, who happened to be on the scene on the day of the incident. From the interview, after carefully checking all the photos, he came to the following conclusion about the size of the water column: the diameter of the water column on the sea surface is 73 meters.
The vortex tube in the middle of the water column has a diameter of 42m.
The vortex tube at the bottom of the cloud has a diameter of 256 meters.
The total length of vortex tube is about1097m.
The height of genting is about 4870 meters.
The average velocity of water column movement is1.7m.
When natural phenomena appear wonders, they often cause great disasters and lose countless lives. 1896 The tornado in the United States was such a natural phenomenon that it didn't hurt anyone or anything. This is really rare. As a matter of fact, except for the people on the sailboat "Avalon", others are threatened by some dangers, only the crew on the sloop. Their boat was near the water column and stopped because there was no wind. But they can observe this magical marine miracle up close, and it is worthwhile to be a little scared.
As Reverend North said, "I'm afraid no one has seen this spectacle, and it's rare to see you again in my life." Neft, a weather observer, summed up the feelings of people present that day. He said: "This is an unforgettable sight. At around 4 pm, the weather turned fine and everyone was very lucky to escape this disaster. "