STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 251 



May — Was very pleasant; light showers of rain occurred at differ- 

 ent intervals. On the seventeenth through the day there were strong 

 indications of a storm or shower of rain; in the evening heat light- 

 ning flashed and lighted up the northern and northwestern horizon 

 for an hour or more with electrical flashes. At 9:30 o'clock p. m. quite 

 a hard thunder shower prevailed. Rain fell so as to form pools of 

 water which ran off in the street gutters. The storm resembled an 

 eastern thunder shower for a short time, more than had been observed 

 in Oakland during the whole period of observations — eight years. 

 Lightning played and darted in every direction, low thunder mut- 

 tered incessantly in the distance, and rain fell in great drops at each 

 electrical discharge. 



June — The month will long be remembered among meteorologists 

 as one very interesting in the various meteorological phenomena 

 manifested. On the third, from 10 a. m. to 1 p. m., one of the most 

 brilliant and well defined solar halos that is seldom seen, was observed. 

 It was one of twenty-two degrees in diameter, giving out the pris- 

 matic colors very bright and clear; the inner edge of the halo was 

 red, and the colors, as they extended to the outer edge, was of the 

 color of a well defined rainbow; inside of this circle there seemed to 

 be no light from the sun; the whole inner portion was dark up to the 

 sun's disc, which shown or passed some rays of light, as often seen 

 during a thick haze in the western horizon at sunset. Outside of this 

 circle, the light of the sun was greatly obscured, fading from the 

 bright orange color of the outer ring of the halo, into a dark pea- 

 green or olive color, which extended over the whole visible horizon, 

 giving a shadowy appearance to all terrestrial objects, similar to that 

 which prevails at a total eclipse of the sun. At 1:30 o'clock p. m., a 

 strong wind blew from the west, which dissipated the icy particles 

 high up in the atmosphere, and with it the halo disappeared. This 

 remarkable halo prognosticated the weather for the following ten 

 days, and as was said at the time of observing it: that the violence 

 of wind and storms which it indicated, foretold such another as this 

 State or locality had not experienced for many years. The result of 

 the forecasting was well vindicated — as all that remember the storms 

 of June, 1884, will attest. In the agricultural portions of the State 

 the early mown hay was much injured, and a great portion destroyed 

 for use. Early fruits were also injured, but later ones were corre- 

 spondingly benefited, as well as late sown grain. 



July — No unusual weather prevailed — the month was pleasant. 



August — On the fourth a light shower of rain fell at five o'clock 

 A. M., continuing with a drizzling rain until 1:30 o'clock p. m. The 

 amount of rain which fell was the first that had fallen in Oakland, 

 that was susceptible to measurement, during the month of August, in 

 eleven years. This rain extended in showers to the valleys lying to 

 the westward of the Diablo range of foothills and mountains. With 

 exception of rather more high overcasts in the mornings than was 

 usual, the month was quite pleasant. 



September — A general storm prevailed over the whole northern and 

 middle portions of the State in showers and drizzling rain. On the 

 seventh and eighth, overcast quite frequent; weather pleasant. The 

 month ending on the thirtieth with a solar halo from 8 to 9 a. m., a 

 gale of wind 12:30 p. m., and a light shower 3 p. m. Evening, clear, 

 cool, wind northwest. 



October — On the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, a rain storm 



