during the Quarter ending September 30, 1848. 369 



of five hours' duration. On July 24 lightning was seen at 

 Saffron Walden ; on July 26 there was a thunder-storm at 

 Leicester; on August 1 thunder was heard at Greenwich 

 during the afternoon ; on August 3 and 4 at Saffron Walden; 

 on August 5 there were thunder-storms at Greenwich, Stone, 

 Saffron Walden, Leicester and Empingham. Near the last- 

 mentioned place a tree was struck by the lightning. 



On August 6 and 7 there were thunder-storms at Leicester; 

 on August 8 at Leicester and at Exeter ; on August 9 at 

 Greenwich, but no lightning was seen ; on August 10 at Stone ; 

 on August 1 1 at Greenwich, between the hours of 6 and 8 p.m.; 

 the storm began in the east, and many of the flashes of light- 

 ning were vivid, and preceded the thunder by two or three 

 seconds only. On August 22 there were storms at Exeter, 

 Stone, Saffron Walden, Cardington, and at Leicester. At 

 Greenwich, on August 23 and 24-, between the hours of 8 p.m. 

 and midnight, on both days many flashes of lightning were 

 seen. On August 31, at Greenwich and at Stone, there were 

 thunder-storms; at the former place the thunder followed the 

 lightning at intervals varying from I s to 12 s . On September 5 

 there were storms at Greenwich, Stone and Leicester ; on 

 September 22 lightning was seen at Greenwich and at Stone, 

 and again at Stone on the 25th. 



Hail fell at Stone and Cardington on August 22, and at 

 Empingham on August 5 ; the hailstones at Cardington were 

 of very large dimensions. 



Gales of wind took place all over the country on August 20, 

 21 and 22, but more particularly on the 21st. At many 

 places trees were blown down, and a great deal of injury was 

 done; coasting- vessels and fishing-boats generally suffered very 

 much. 



Large and continuous falls of rain. — In July, at Greenwich, 

 rain fell to the depth of 0*3 inch on the 15th, 23rd and 31st. 

 On the 14th, at Latimer Rectory, rain to the depth of half an 

 inch fell in half an hour. In August rain was falling more or 

 less at every part of the country on every day. At Greenwich 

 the amount collected exceeded 0*3 inch on the 1st, 3rd, 8th, 

 10th and 21st; and the falls exceeded 0*7 inch on the 14<th 

 and 31st; on the 14th a large fall occurred at all places. In 

 September, on the 24th, at Thwaite, between 4 h a.m. and 9 h 

 a.m., rain fell to the depth of 2*12 inches, a greater fall within 

 the same interval of time than has occurred at Thwaite within 

 the preceding forty years ; and on this day, at Leeds, the fall 

 within nine hours was 2 inches. On the 28th, 29th and 30th 

 days, rain was falling almost continuously over all parts of the 

 country. At Cardington the fall within sixty hours was 2*6 



