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Page 8B • The Battalion
March 28,199s| iesd
We’re not in Kansas anymore
• •
□ A group of scientists will search
for tornadoes this spring to find
clues to the storms' behavior.
WASHINGTON (AP) — While most Amer
icans try to avoid tornadoes, a small army of
scientists and students will swarm across the
nation’s twister-prone middle this spring
hoping to stand in storm’s way.
In the second stage of a two-year effort,
more than 100 students led by 20 scientists
will pursue twisters over hundreds of miles,
chasing, for days if necessary, across Okla
homa, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and
possibly into Colorado.
Meteorological students beg for a chance
to approach these storms, said Howard
Bluestein, a University of Oklahoma pro
fessor who has been chasing tornadoes for
18 years.
“If you know what you’re doing it’s not
as dangerous as it seems on the surface,”
added Harold Brooks, a meteorologist at
the National Severe Storms Laboratory in
Norman, Okla.
People chase storms both for scientific
curiosity and “a certain level of excite
ment,” Brooks said. “If you have a reason
able understanding of storm behavior, you
can manage to put yourself in a safe posi
tion for observation.”
Years ago Bluestein and bands of students
roamed ahead of twisters in pickup trucks,
trying to put a “totable tornado observatory”
(Toto) in the path of the storms, which re
fused to cooperate.
Now they will scatter arrays of small in
struments along the roadway ahead of
twisters “to increase the chance of getting
near one of them.”
In addition, airborne radars will probe the
motions within the storms, instruments will
be launched on balloons, and small Doppler
radars developed by Bluestein will be de
ployed on the ground to measure the wind. In
1991 one of these units clocked wind speeds
LOS
in a tornado at 286 mph. fe.sl Gi
In the first field season last year therebluste]
searchers tracked 11 storms, including ©uthe
three tornadoes. ijonda
The prime target is the supercell, a long its st£
lived severe thunderstorm that can gener jonly t
ate tornadoes. While fewer than half of su-jin as
percells produce tornadoes, when they do row.
sprout a twister they are among the most Rob
violent on Earth. dSrectc
Last year the researchers were surprised jlockb
by a twister near Archer City, Texas, that yvin be
moved west, turned northwest and then west “I f<
again. The storm defied the usual patternoi ing on
tornadoes, which almost always move from
southwest to northeast.
Later analysis showed that that storm de
veloped very suddenly, in less than five rair
utes, in a manner quite different from thf
thought to produce tornadoes.
Bluestein said the twister develops
near a gust front — an area of strorj
winds — and that may have affected it
unusual direction.
effects
lieveal
costly
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Dillard’s
Descendant pays debt
Bi em
last ye
AIDS i
I ^ es
best a
Justr
[Sky. B
;path
shelve
of stu<
jirectc
efore
owed to Sam Houston
□ The interest on the
$100 debt totaled
about $419,629,669.
HOUSTON (AP) — It took
160 years, but pioneer Col.
James J. Ross has finally made
good on a $100 debt to legendary
Texan Sam Houston.
O.G. McClain, Ross’ great-
great-grandson, recently paid
the debt to Sam Houston IV,
great-grandson of Texas’ first
president.
“I hate debts, and I feel sure
Grandpappy Ross did, too,” Mc
Clain wrote to Sam Houston IV,
whom he met through the Sons
of the Republic of Texas. “Even
though we may be a little slow
in making this
payment, we
want to square
up this account.”
McClain, an
84-year-old re
tired geologist.
great-great-grandfather was
bom about 1787 in South Caroli
na. He went from there to Tea
nessee. Family lore says ts
fought with Jackson in thek
tie of New Orleans.
Ross came to Texas by 1&
and became one of Stephenl
Austin’s first 300 settlers, es
tablishing his home neartt-
present site of Eagle Lake. Hf
later moved to a site near
Fayetteville.
Houston came to Texask
1832 and eventually became
commanding general of the
Texas revolutionary arm;
served as the republic's fini
president and as one of the
state’s first U.S. senators afte
Texas joined the union.
The long-overdue debt pay
ment was donated to the Sam
was a
jood r
“Tb
honor
film tl
ture,”
ously
for Tbi
"I have debts, and I feel sure
Grandpappy Ross did, too. Even
though we may be a little slow in
emd h the is Sut- ma ^* n 8 this payment, we want to
standing
debt
while looking
over his ances
tor’s estate in
ventory. Records
showed that
Ross hadn’t paid the $100 to
Houston when he was killed on
Jan. 14, 1835.
Neither Sam Houston IV, who
lives in Katy, nor McClain, of
Houston, knows how the debt
was incurred.
“Perhaps it was for a horse,”
Houston said. “He was always
buying and selling horses.”
The descendants said Ross
and Houston almost certainly
knew each other. Both came to
Texas from Tennessee and
Arkansas and fought with An
drew Jackson.
McClain said he thinks his
square up this account.
— O. G. McClain, great-great-granh
of James J. Ross, debtor to Sam Houstw
Houston Museum in Huntsville.
McClain said he wouldni
even attempt to make goodoi
the interest. At a rate that was
probably about 10 percent, tki
interest would have grown
$419,629,669 over the past IS
years.
“There’s not enough money
in Texas to pay for that,” Me
Clain said.
“I wasn’t interested in colled]
ing interest,” said Sam Houston
IV. “I was afraid that if I triedtfl
do that I might have to settle up
any old debts Gen. Sam migW
have left behind.”
Start Brewing Now For
Aggieland Brewfest
April 29th @ Carney’s Pub
prizes - Prizes - Prizes
Collegiate - Professor - Open Divisions
Prizes for Most Creative Label
Prizes for Most Creative Beer Name
• Overall Winner will receive a
trip for two to Jamaica
• Second place wins a kegging system
Listen to Mix 104.7 for further details.
For information on becoming a judge read
Study Breaks and register at Carney’s.
Get your supplies at
Home Brewers Supply
2307 Texas Ave. South
(across from Fuddruckers)
Open Tuesday - Friday 11-7
Saturday 12:00 - 6 , Closed Sunday & Monday
764-8486