Song of the Sky

[David E. Young]

Some 50 years ago, when I was a young child, I became interested in severe weather from a book by Guy Murchie, "Song of the Sky." The book was oriented for the aviator and describes all sorts of atmospheric phenomena. There are about 9 pages dedicated to the discussion of the tornado. Published in 1954 it surely cannot be compared to more recent reviews of tornados and tornadogenesis.

Still, there are very interesting stories and statements made, such as "... twister than somehow ran ahead of its thundercloud, then immediately created a new one that shot up to "35,000" feet in one minute." ("new one" evidently means a new thunderhead.) Could this be true?

The best part is the description (in the book) by Will Keller (a farmer) of a tornado from close up. (He made his observations from the entrance to his storm celler.) This must be, I presume, the first description of a multi-vortex tornado, although that term had not been invented as of yet. I believe that I had heard someone on this forum once mention this story.. I presume that it is not new to anyone here.

Mr. Murchie doesn't always get it right, for he describes how a house explodes when a tornado goes over the house, "... pressure inside a closed house suddenly finds itself four pounds per square inch higher than outside..... several tons upon the average window." "... explosive are pressures can blow up buildings." Today we know that this isn't true.

Are many of you familiar with this book?

David

 

[David E. Young]

Let me rephrase my question:

Is "Song of the Sky" something that experienced chasers familiar with?.... as one of the earliest attempts to make sense of the weather between two covers. And.... are chasers familiar with the Will Keller's closer encounter story? (as told in the book)

Or is "Song of the Sky" so outdated that it just an antique to have a copy in the library and really no interest to anyone?

 

[David Wolfson]

David, I too grew up with Song of the Sky as a kid, right along with George Stewart's novel, "Storm", whose main character was a Pacific coast winter storm named "Maria" [mar-ai-ah]. AFAIK this novel was the inspiration for the Weather Bureau's naming of tropical storms and for Lerner & Loewe's song, "They Call the Wind Maria".

 

[rdale]

"... twister than somehow ran ahead of its thundercloud, then immediately created a new one that shot up to "35,000" feet in one minute." ("new one" evidently means a new thunderhead.) Could this be true?

No, it's not remotely possible in any way. Tornadoes can't "leave" their spawning storm, and a tornado can't cause a new storm to form.

 

[JanelleHelling]

David, I remember that story, although I had forgotten the title of the book. The description of the farmer looking up inside the funnel was an image both terrifying and compelling. I don't know how many times I went back and reread it. All the same, I wondered about the truthfulness, because, in my kid's way of thinking, given his location and the open cellar door, there's no way it would not have eaten him alive.

Fast forward 50 years to watching the VORTEX2 Wyoming tornado live their first year out, and the farmer's description in that story seemed a lot like the open top of that funnel seen at the moment it separated from the parent storm.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm not familiar with that book, but it sounds like a jewel! I read my own share of misinformation about tornadoes back when I was a boy. I couldn't get misinformed enough, and I devoured anything about tornadoes that I could get my hands on. There wasn't much literature on the subject back then, but there was some. Ah, me, the good old days of 500 mph wind speeds and exploding houses!

The Will Keller story is a pretty well-known account that I've come across many times through the years. My first acquaintance with it was, of course, in one of those boyhood books on weather. It was a fascinating story, and while parts of it make me scratch my head today, I agree that it's one of the earliest account, if not the first, of multiple vortices.

 

[Jeff Wright]

The really interesting thing is how some folks a long time ago got the idea that tornadoes do not rotate.