When you hear “Ben Franklin” you likely
think of a politician, an author, inventor, and a scientist, just to name a
few. Even though Franklin technically had no background or education in
weather, he made many advancements in the field of meteorology, including
determining the general directions in which storms travel, how temperature
affects electric conductivity, how volcanic eruptions affect climate, weather
pertaining to oceanography, and we all know about his infamous “discovery of
electricity” when he flew a kite into a lightning storm.
While trying to see an eclipse, Franklin
realized,
accidentally, that in North America large storms tended to move from southwest
to northeast. The reason this was a shocker, and that nobody else in the
colonies seemed to notice, was because in Europe this isn’t always the case.
Many storms can actually come from the Northwest.
One of
Franklins lesser known titles was “tornado-chaser”. It all started after a
series of waterspouts in Italy back in 1749. Waterspouts are not uncommon
there, but one in particular did something that the others had not done
before…it came onshore.
Many of the
residents of this badly damaged Italian coastal town became paranoid, thinking
this was the end of the world, and that surely the apocalypse was near. In
order to calm fears, the Pope ordered a very well-known natural philosopher,
Father Ruder Boscovich, to investigate, and print his results in a book. In his
book were details of the trail of ruin, interviews with survivors and
eyewitnesses, and also extensive research in the Vatican Library on similar
meteorological events.
Franklin began
receiving copies of Father Boscovich’s book. Many colleagues started asking
Franklin what his thoughts were, so he started his own investigation. Never
having personally seen one himself, he researched travelers’ tales, historical
documents, and the diaries of officers and sailors on ships who had witnessed
them firsthand. As he read through all these
papers, he quickly realized that the common theory that waterspouts were made
out of water, not air, could not possibly be true. The sheer weight of the
water would not allow for a force to either raise or sustain such a large body
of it in midair. But the big question remained....if it wasn’t water, why did
it look like it was? After more research, Franklin came to the conclusion that
it only appeared to be made of water because of fog that was condensing around
the waterspout.
After all of this came to light, Franklin’s biggest
“discovery” was that if the waterspout truly was made out of air rather than
water, then the long-held belief that waterspouts only remained over water was
false. In theory, if all they are made of is air, then they should be just as
likely to happen over land as they would be to happen over water. Finding the
evidence to prove this however, wasn’t quite as easy.
He found the best
piece of information through a published piece out of the Yorkshire countryside in England. It described in detail what it looked
like, and described the minor damage to
village rooftops. What caused them?
Why did some last longer than others? Could they occur anywhere, or just
certain parts of the world? These are the questions that plagued Franklin for
quite some time.
Sensing
Franklin’s frustration, a colleague, Colonel Tasker invited Franklin and his
son William to stay with him at his home in the countryside of Maryland. On
their way was a dusty, winding road winding, and all of a sudden someone
noticed a tight little column of air: a newly forming “tornado”. I put that
word in quotes because back then they were not called tornadoes. They were
referred to as landspouts or whirlwinds most frequently.
Franklin wrote in his research that it resembled a
sugar-loaf funnel, with an odd, irregular bob and swerve like a spinning top.
It swayed across the hillside and began to come right at them. At that point
everyone but Franklin started to head backwards away from the funnel. Franklin
later said he couldn’t help himself; he just had to get closer. Just as he
began to chase the funnel it turned and changed course into the woods. Franklin
decided to follow it further into the woods, but noticed the wind was getting
louder. As he got closer he noticed the funnel was picking up everything in
sight: leaves, branches, etc. He also noted that the whirlwind was bending and
snapping trees as though they were mere twigs. At this point Franklin decided he
best stay put for his own safety. Moments later the funnel just dissolved into
nothing as it moved into an old tobacco field.
While he never officially used
the word “tornado” in any of his research, he certainly was the first real
“tornado chaser”.
Sources: NWS, Daily Beast, PBS, Britanica (first photo), Weatherwise Magazine
(second photo--the first known photo of a tornado)
