for the Year 1836. 155 



wind had a velocity of from 120 to 150 miles per hour. The 

 fury of the gale was most felt on the coasts of France and Bel- 

 gium. At Ostend there was scarcely a house which was not un- 

 roofed ; and so great was the demand for tiles, that they rose 

 from 16 to 30 florins per 1000. The motion of the mercury 

 in the barometer, during the most violent part of the hurricane, 

 attracted great attention. On the morning of the 29th, at 9, 

 the mercury stood at 29*30 in. : it soon afterwards began to 

 sink very rapidly, exhibiting much agitation during the violent 

 gusts of wind, for which this hurricane was particularly re- 

 markable ; till 12 at noon, when it stood at 28*82 in. At 

 2 p. m. the barometer had risen to 29*35, soon after which 

 the wind lulled into almost a calm. 



December came in with an unusually high temperature. The 

 thermometer ranging between 50° and 56°. The min. during 

 the nights of the 4th, 5th, and 6th, was above 50°. The great 

 prevalence of s. w. winds during the first three weeks may 

 account for the very high temperature ; and, indeed, the very 

 high winter temperature during the last three years may be 

 attributed to the same cause. On the 23d *, the wind shifted 

 suddenly to the n., with a sinking barometer, and decreasing 

 temperature, which was introductory to the memorable snow 

 storm on Christmas day, which will be long remembered by 

 the Londoners. Communication with the metropolis, for one 

 whole week, was greatly retarded by land, the effects of which 

 were seriously felt by the commercial houses. The drifted 

 snow, in many places, measured from 12 ft. to 16 ft. in depth, 

 but the average depth, as nearly as could be calculated, was 

 about 4 ft. In London, the principal streets, during the 

 whole of the Christmas week, resembled ploughed lands. The 

 snow, having become mingled with the dirt in the streets, had 

 lost its whiteness, and had very much the appearauce of black 

 mould ; so that carriages passed along the streets as silently 

 as they would have done along a ploughed field. The gale 

 on Christmas day from n. and n. e., independently of drifting 

 the snow, did much damage to the shipping on the east coast. 

 This gale, I believe, was general all over England ; but the 

 direction in which the wind blew varied at different places 

 to almost every point of the compass. There was a consi- 

 derable fall of snow in Spain, with an unusual decrease of 

 temperature. — W. H. White. London, Feb. IS. 1837. 



* At New York, Dec. 21st, at 11 a.m., the thermometer stood at 50° 

 Fahrenheit above zero. In twenty minutes, it fell 32° ; and at 9 p. m, it 

 stood at 16°. This sudden change was succeeded by a fall of snow, 

 which was carried away by heavy rain, and a s. w. wind, on the 27th inst., 

 to the overflowing of several rivers. On the 28th, a n. w. wind blew, with 

 hard frost. 



