XIII. 



MISCELLAXEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Read at Watford, 22nd November, 1881. 



Meteorology. 



Whirlwind hetween Watford and St. Albans. — At a few minutes 

 after 1 a.ni ou Tuesday the 9th of September, a destructive whirl- 

 wind just touched the edge of Bricket Wood where it adjoins the 

 high-road close to the toll-gate about half-way between Watford 

 and St. Albans. 



Passing along the road a few days after it occurred I was able to 

 trace its path for half a mile or more in a south-westerly and north- 

 easterly direction. In its course large trees have been uprooted 

 and portions of others broken off and scattered in all directions. 

 One elm, about 1 1 feet in circumference three feet from the ground 

 and scai'cely any less twelve feet from the ground, and at least 60 

 or 70 feet in height — I could not tell exactly, for it had been sawn 

 in pieces when I measured it — fell across the high-road, and must 

 have completely blocked it at the time ; and another, which I did 

 not measure, fell at right angles to the former, across the bye-road 

 leading to Waterdell Farm. Between these two trees a few 

 brandies have been carried away from some fir-trees at the extreme 

 edge of Bricket Wood ; and farther on, towards St. Albans, a small 

 garden has been laid waste, some trees have had their lower and 

 larger branches cut clean away while the upper branches remain 

 intact, some have been split down as if by lightning, and one has 

 had the upper portion cut off and carried away without injury to 

 the lower branches. Other ti'ees, in the direct path of the wind if 

 it had travelled in a straight line, are quite uninjured. 



That the storm took place at the time mentioned, and that it 

 was a whirlwind, of which its eftects are almost sufficient evidence, 

 I was told by the toll-gate keeper, who had been up at 5 minutes 

 to 1 to open the gate, and was aroused shortly afterwards by the 

 noise of the wind and the crashing of the trees, all being quiet 

 again before half- past 1. 



It appears that this whirlwind was not, as might have been in- 

 ferred from the absence of any further trace of it in the neighbour- 

 hood, quite local ; for a simihir phenomenon, though not so violent, 

 occurred at Spring Grove, Isleworth, and is thus recorded in the 

 'Meteorological Magazine' (vol. xvi, p. 136) by Miss Ormerod : — 

 "At 1-15 a.m. on the morning of the 9th inst. [Sept.], we were 

 visited for a few minutes by a most tremendous gust of wind, 

 which I estimated to be aboxit ' 8 ' Beaufort notation, but the 

 movement was very peculiar in the air, for though there was a 

 force that rocked the large old elms close to my window nearly 

 down to the ground, yet the large arms tossed wildly to and fro, 

 but did nut bend, as in a common gale, mainly in one direction, and 

 then regain position. The highest rate of movement appeared to 



