The First Book on the Study of Tornadoes - 1887

Tornado books today are abundant. Most modern books profile the nature of the violent rotating winds of a twister with photographs, personal stories, and tales of loss. In 1887, the first book to be devoted to the study of tornadoes was written by John P. Finley. While many of Finley's ideas would later prove to be dangerous, it is a rare 19th century look at meteorology and the study of tornadoes.

Finley best described tornadoes in this eloquent passage from the first chapter of the text.

The people of the United States are no longer strangers to that dreaded aerial monster, the Tornado. A single experience of this awful convulsion of the elements suffices to fasten the memory of its occurrence upon the mind with such a dreadful force that no effort can efface the remembrance of it. The destructive violence of this storm exceeds in its power, fierceness, and grandeur all other phenomena of the atmosphere.

The tornado book is available from the University of Oklahoma History of Science Department. The book was given to the University by Edwin Kessler, the first National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) director. You can download Finley's Tornado Book and print the entire text. You can also locate individual page files online.