Tornada de la București din 9 Iunie 1886

Prima tornadă consemnată în mod oficial în București a avut loc în 9 iunie 1886. Tornada a fost descrisă într-un articol publicat în “Ciel et Terre“ de Ștefan Hepites (1851—1922) inițiatorul studiilor meteorologice din România și primul director al Institutului Meteorologic fondat în 1884. Am “descoperit“ o descriere foarte scurtă a acestei tornade acum mai bine de zece ani în “Wind- und Wasserhosen in Europa” (“Tornade și Trombe în Europa“) cartea lui Alfred Wegener (1880—1930). “Wind- und Wasserhosen in Europa” este primul studiu climatologic modern al tornadelor din Europa, fiind scrisă în timpul Primului Război mondial și publicată 1917. În cartea lui Wegener (despre care am scris în detaliu aici) descrierea tornadei de la București este succintă

“145. 1886, Juni 9. 5 – 6 p. Bukarest. Ciel et Terre 7, 235, 1886 – 87 [mit Barogramm].”

— Wegener (1917)

Prin bunăvoința Societății Regale Belgiene de Astronomie și Meteorologie am primit o copie a articolului lui Hepites despre tornada din 9 iunie 1886. De asemenea am găsit în biblioteca Administrației Administrației Naționale de Meteorologie descrierea tornadei publicată tot de Hepites în “Analele Institului Meteorologic“ (1887). Iată ce scria Hepites despre tornada de la București.

“Mersul presiunii atmosferice în ziua de 9 iunie 1886 a fost așa de caracteristic la București încât merită să fie menționat aici. În ziua de 9 iunie, între orele 5 și 6 după amiaza o trombă a avut loc asupra unei părți a Bucureștilor mai cu seamă înspre abator, care se află la sudul orașului, pe țărmul drept al Dîmboviței și unde tromba a produs mari stricăciuni.

La Insitutul Meteorologic de la Ferestrău, la nordul capitalei, nu sa observat nimic anormal decât oscilațiile repezi ale barometrului. Vântul care sufla mai întâi de la est, s-a schimbat la nord vest în timpul trombei. Iuțeala sa în timpul fenomenlui n-a fost, în nici un moment, mai mare decât 15 metri pe secundă și n-a produs nici o stricăciune.

La abator iuțeala sa a trebuit să fie mult mai considerabilă; am numărat în vecinătea sa mai mult de 40 de arbori mari dezrădăcinați sau rupți; toate acoperișurile cu lemnărie cu tot au fost ridicate și azvărlite în depărtare; un cămin înalt a fost răsturnat precum și mai multe ziduri.

Bucăți de lemne din căprioreală au fost aruncate la o mare distanță și au fost îngropate în pămănt la o adâncime de 45 centimetri; am văzut cinci bucăți din acestea având fiecare o secțiune de 12 centimetri pe 10. Toate geamurile au fost sparte. Stricăciunile au fost evaluate la 200,000 lei. În apropiere de acest stabiliment mai multe case au fost cu totul distruse; la penitenciarul de la Văcărești o parte din înveliș a fost ridicat.

În centrul orașului, efectele trombei au fost mai mici; totul s-a mărginit la câteva geamuri sparte, la coșuri răsturnate și ici și colo, ramuri de abori rupte. O ploaie tare, însoțită de piatră de mărimea alunelor, a căzut în timpul trecerii meteorului, din această cauză străzile erau impracticabile în mai multe părți ale orașului.

La Insitutul de la Ferestrău, fulgerele cu tunete au început de la 5 ore p.m. cel dintăi tunet s-a auzit la 4 ore si 43 minute; o ploaie în general slabă și căte odată torențială a început la 5 ore 40 și a ținut 1 oră și 5 minute până la 6 ore 40 minute; ploia a fost însoțită de la 5 ore 55 minute până la 6 ore și 10 minute de piatră rară care cădea cu intermitență. Piatra era la început măruntă, în urmă mare ca nuca. Cantitatea de apă adunată la udometru a fost de 60.5 mm. ”

— Hepites (1887, p. 78—80)

Presiunea atmosferică la București (Institutul Meteorologic) între 9 și 10 iunie 1886 (Hepites 1886, Analele Institului Meteorologic, Tomul III).

Tornada din 9 iunie 1886, nu este numai prima tornadă raportată în București dar și prima tornadă raportat oficial în România și în același timp prima tornadă pentru care a fost realizată o estimare oficiala a pagubelor (ceea ce șe numeste în literatura de specialitate damage survey). Pentru mine această tornadă are și o altă semnificației pentru că de la aceast eveniment a pornit interesul meu pentru tornadele din România inițial și apoi pentru tornadele din Europa.

Waterspout over the Tyrrhenian Sea on June 1827

I have found this week entry on the "Gallery" via a Google search. Someone was selling a beautiful lithography from 1828 entitle "Phénomène de trombes marines" for the small sum of £1200. The lithography showed a series of waterspouts and my initial thinking was that this is an artistic representations of various types waterspouts  (similar with the "Diagram of Meteorology" by John Emslie). Since I was curious to find more about it, I have tried to find a high resolution reproduction. I have found one in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which is showed bellow.  

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Waterspouts on the Tyrrhenian Sea on 27 June 1827. Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France. [click on the image for a high resolution version]

The caption reads: "Waterspouts phenomenon observed in the sea of Sicily [i.e., Tyrrhenian Sea], toward Stromboli [showed on the left of the image] 27 June 1827, and drawn by L. Mazzara [i.e., Louis Mazzara], aboard the brigantine Portia, Cabbage captain, when the ship fired on the waterspout [showed on the right of the image]." Félix Achille Saint-Aulaire made the engraving based on a drawing by Louis Mazzara and the lithography was published in 1828 by Godefroy Engelmann. Unfortunately, I could not find more informations about this event except for a short description in "Météorologie" (1841) by Jean Charles Athanase Peltier which indicated that the lithography shows a family of seven waterspouts. This is similar with another event that occurred on August 1999 between Corfu and Othonoi islands, in Greek waters, which shows a family of four waterspouts.  [Thanks to Stavros Dafis, who is studying this event, for providing informations on the location.]

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Waterspouts between Corfu and Othonoi islands, in Greek waters on August 1999. The picture was taken by Roberto Giudici on a boat trip to Brindisi (Italy) (©Roberto Giudici).

If you have other informations about the event form 27 June 1827, I would be very interested to hear from you and understand more about the story behind the lithography.  

The first waterspout forecast for Europe

On the morning of 4 January 1789, M. Michaud corresponding member of the Academy of Science of Turin at Nice observed "an immense group of clouds like towers piling up". This not only drew his attention but also allowed him to make a prediction to his two older sons:

“[...] nous aurions bein pu decouvrir quelque trombe de mer dans la journee
(we could discover some waterspouts during the day)”

— [Michaud 1801, p. 5]

Approximately two hours later at 10:05 am, Michaud observed at sea the "embrion of a waterspout" surrounded by "high plumes like sails pushed by the wind toward the surface" (a in Fig. 1). The structure narrowed and  was later observed as a "column of fog" over land (b in Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1 - The "embrion of a waterspout" at Nice on 6 January 1789.

At 11:52 am the confirmation of Michaud's  prediction arrived, as his second son, now in charge with the observations, shouted: "Mon Pere, une trombe de mer superbe!" (Michaud 1801, p. 6).  Fig. 2 shows the "superb" waterspout "passing majestically in front of Nice". The base of the waterspout, which was as the beginning "calm" was now "a veritable volcano crater" with parabolic jets of water emerging from the centre. As Michaud and his sons were watching this "extraordinary spectacle" hail (1-1.5 cm in diameter) begin to fall.

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Fig. 2 - The first waterspout observed at Nice on 6 January 1789. 

Soon after, a second waterspout begin to form and was observed initially only at the surface of the sea (a in Fig. 3). The vertical structure of the waterspout became apparent (c in Fig. 3) once the pendant structure from the cloud indicated as (b) in Fig. 3 moved over the sea surface structure. 

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Fig. 3 - The evolution of the second waterspout observed at Nice on 6 January 1879.

The account of the waterspouts from 4 January together with some speculations regarding their formation were published by Michaud in Memoires de l'Academie de Turin in 1801. This account contains, to my knowledge, the first verified waterspout forecast for Europe.  The article, which also contains a description of two waterspouts observed in 19 March 1789 Nice (Fig. 4) was translated to German an published in Annalen der Physik in 1801. 

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Fig. 4 - Waterspouts observed at Nice on 19 March 1789.

Reference:

Michaud, 1801: Observations sur les trombes de mer vues de Nice en 1789, le 6 Janvier et le 19 Mars. Memoires de l' Acad. de Turin, Tome 6, p. 3–22. (via gallica.bnf.fr).

The first published drawing of a waterspout

In his historical review of tornadoes in Italy Peterson (1998, p. 125) mentioned that "the first published drawing of  a waterspout was an observation by de Monconys 31 December 1648 near Sardinia, published in 1665". Unfortunately,  Peterson (1998) does not contain the drawing or the reference to the original publication. Since I was curious to see this drawing, I have tried to find  the original publication.  Soon enough  I have discovered that the drawing  appeared in Journal de voyages de Monsieur de Monconys, Conseiller du Roy en ses conseils d'estat & privé, & Lieutenant Criminel au Siege Presidial de Lyon (The travel journal of Monsieur de Monconys, King's Advisor in State and Private Councils, and Magistrate in the Judicial tribunal of Lyon)*.  

Balthasar de Monconys (1611–1665) was a French diplomat, physicist and magistrate born in Lyon who, throughout his life, travelled widely across Europe and Middle East in an attempt to rediscover the sources of teachings of Pythagoras,  Zoroaster and Greek and Arabic alchemists. De Monconys left a diary, which was published in three volumes between 1665–1666  by his son Gaspard de Monconys de Liergues.  In his diary, de Monconys included a vast range of topics from medical recipes, chemistry experiments and discussions on esoteric sciences to mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, zoology,  medicine and meteorology.

The first volume of Monconys's diary contains descriptions of his travels between 1645–1649 to Portugal, Provence, Italy, Syria, Anatolia and Constantinople.  On 31 December 1648 de Monconys noted in his diary

“We have arrived close to Tolara, an island joined to Sardinia. There I drew the figure of a siphon**”

— (du Monconys, 1665, p.486)

Waterspouts off the coast of Sardinia on 31 December 1648 (de Moncoys 1665, p. 464).

Unfortunately, de Monconys is not providing other details about these waterspouts and it does not seams to be threatened or impressed by their sight. This may suggest that de Monconys had observed waterspouts (or tornadoes) before, or at least was aware of their existence.

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* The complete reference is: de Monconys, B., 1665: Journal de voyages de Monsieur Monconys, Conseiller du Roy en ses conseils d'estat & priué, & Lieutenant Criminel au Siege Presidial de Lyon. Où les Sçavants trouveront un nombre infini de nouveautez, en Machines de Mathematique,  Experiences Physiques, Raisonnemens de la belle Philosophie, curiositez de Chymie, & conversations des Illustres de ce Siecle; Outre la description de diuers Animaux & Plantes rares, plusieurs Secrets inconnus pour le Plaisir & la Santé, les Ouvrages des Peintres fameux, les Coûtumes & Moeurs des Nations, & ce qu'il y a de plus digne de la connoissance d'un honeste Homme dans les trois Parties du Monde. Enrichi de quantité de Figures en Taille-douce des lieux & des choses principales, avec des Indices tres-exacts & tres commodes pour l'usage. Lyon, p. 491.

** From Ancient Greek: σίφων "pipe, tube", also called syphon.

Waterspouts and tornadoes in Antiquity

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In January 1417, Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459) - an Italian humanist, historian, scholar in the Papal Court and book-hunter - discovered in a monastery library in the southern Germany (probably the Benedictine abbey in Fulda) a manuscript that was missing for 1000 years, the only surviving copy of Lucretius's De Rerum Natura ("On the Nature of Things").

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De Rerum Natura was a Latin poem of 7400 lines, divided into six books, in which the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius    (c. 99 BC–c. 55 BC) describes the Epicureanism, a system of philosophy based on the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–270 BC).  In the poem, Lucretius  argue, amongst other things, that the Universe functioned without the aid of gods, that the Earth is the center of the Universe and that the fundamental constituents of the world were very small invisible particles (atoms) in eternal motion colliding and swerving with no purpose or plan behind their motions. Lucretius devoted the Book 6 of the De Rerum Natura to meteorology. Of particular interest for one of my projects (on the evolution of the theories on tornado formation in Europe) where the lines 422–451: 

“For the rest is easy now to understand
How what the Greeks named ‘presteres’* from above
Are sent down on the sea. Sometimes you know
A pillar, so to speak, is let right down
From sky to sea, round which the surges boil
Lashed by the blowing winds, and ships that are
Caught in that turmoil come in greatest risk.
And this takes place sometimes when the wind’s force
Can t burst the cloud it aimed at, but can urge
It downwards, like a pillar that is set
’Tween sea and sky, coming by slow degrees,
Pushed and extended as t were from above
Over the waves by strength of arm and hand :
And when the cloud is rent, the force of wind
Bursts forth upon the sea, and raises up
A wondrous surging in the waves around:
The eddy whirling round descends and brings
Yon cloud of pliant body down with it :
And having thrust it, heavy as it is,
Down to the level of the sea, the eddy then
Plunges itself entire into the waves,
And stirs the ocean with terrific noise,
And makes it boil. It chances too sometimes
That the eddying wind wraps up itself in clouds,
And gathering from the air the seeds of clouds,
As though let down from heaven, imitates
The prester. And when it has reached the earth
And burst, it vomits forth a whirling storm

Of vast dimensions, but as it is rare,
And mountains must obstruct its way on land,
More frequent it is seen in the wide expanse
Of ocean and beneath the spreading sky.”

— Lucretius - On the Nature of Things (translate from the Latin into English Verse by Sir Robert Allison - London, Arthur L. Humphreys 187 Piccadilly, W. 1919)

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The title page Lambin's 1563 edition of De Rerum Natura (source)

Thus, Lucretius describes two mechanisms for the formation of waterspouts and whirlwinds. In the first one, similar with mechanism described by Aristotle for the formation of whirlwinds, the wind cannot break the cloud, and it is forced down in the shape of a pillar to the sea where it bursts and causes a furious boiling and surging. In the second mechanism,  the whirlwind form outside the cloud by gathering "the seed of clouds" (or atoms of cloud) and wrap them round to imitate a real prester that is observed sometimes over land, but often on the sea. Through the Middle Ages till the end of the 17th Century, authors generally repeated Lucretius's theories to explain the formation of tornadoes and waterspouts.

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(*) In Greek in the original text (i.e., πρηστήρες) meaning  a meteor or exhalation formerly supposed to be thrown from the clouds with such violence that by collision it is set on fire. (source)