xt7jh98zct60_34 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/2015ms086.dao.xml Bevins, Martha 0.05 Cubic Feet 55 items archival material 2015ms086 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy Radio broadcasting. Agriculture -- Kentucky. Birds Women air pilots. 1957 November 6 text 1957 November 6 2016 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/2015ms086/Box_ms_42/Folder_1/Item_34/1957_11_6_Bevins_Air_Currents_p1.pdf 1957 November 6 1957 1957 November 6 section false xt7jh98zct60_34 xt7jh98zct60 I

Morning View Kentucky

6 November 1957
Hello Mr, McCarthy,
Shortly before noon last baturday, while the sun smiled benignly
upon the tree patch though heavy clouds were building up in the
southwest, air currents put on a fascinating and unusual little
show. There was no breeze, neither leaves remaining on the trees
nor those crisply covering the ground showing the slightest
activity.
ambling aimlessly about with the dogs, I quickly discovered that
through the Warm, motionless air lay bands and streaks of much
colder air -- the temperature variance being at least ten degrees.
I explored the cooler air, finding some ribbons of it nearly
fifty feet wide, while one little Splinter was so narrow that when
I stood in it With my arms extended, my hands were in the warmer
air on each side. I followed one invisible channel of coolness
completely across the tree patch to the road where a passing
car churned it beyond recovery.
What I could not understand Was the immobility. It was contrary
to all laws of atmOSpheric temperature and pressure for hot add
cold air to lie in motionless serenity across a ridge top, the
unseen lines of demarcation between the two temperatures as
sharply defined as between the black and white keys of a piano.
Cigarette Smoke hovered quietly until it dissipated in the larm
air, did the same in the cool air, and Was only slightly more
animated when puffed where the two converged.
I remembered a veteran pilot's telling me long ago that if we could
see air currents the spectacle would be so frightening that no one
would be brave enough to fly. Nevertheless, I heartily wished that,
for the moment, the air in the treepatch were visible so I could
see why it Wasn't moving.
Suddenly it all changed. a brisk wind blew from everywhere at
once and rushed upWards as it reached us. Leaves from the ground
fluttered skyward as though going up a chimney. b'trong puffs of
air stood my hair erect and tugged at my collar. Leaves remaining
on the trees, even the great thick ones of the black oaks, tore
loose and swirled upward. within seconds, a vast column of leaves,
several hundred feet across, towered so high above the trees that
I could no longer see the topmost leaves.

 ,

After a short time, the great cylinder began to rotate gently,
the leaves twinkling in the sunlight as they circled higher and higher.
nt the same time it severed all connection with the ground,
gradually rising until leaves still clinging to even the tallest
trees were no longer touched by its currents.
Still spinning slowly, it moved away to the northwest at a Speed
of several miles an hour. I followed. It crossed high above the
pond without so much as ruffling the placid Water, then passed
over the rounded shoulder of a hill beyond it, the bottom leaves
of the amazing column several hundred feet above the ground. It

‘ Sailed serenely above a little wooded valley while I scrambled
through briars and tangled grape vines beneath it.
Finally, over the Johnson grass and weeds of a fallow field almost
a mile from the tree patch, it faltered, still high in the air, and
in a twinkling, had lost all its motive power. Down flickered the
leaves through the stillness until they covered the ground in a
rough circle about 200 feet in diameter.

I “hen only empty sky remained above me, I took one last look
around at the carpet of leaves which had fallen where no trees
stood, then made my Way back to the tree patch, highly pleased with
the bit of atmospheric whimsey I had been privileged to witness.
Sincerely,