XXY. 



THE GALE OF THE 24TII OF MARCH, 1895, IN HERTFORDSHIRE. 



By John Hopkinson, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc. 



Read at Watford, 23rd April, 1895. 



During the last few months, rain, frost, and wind have been 

 vying with each other as to which could do the greatest amount of 

 damage, but far more irreparable injury was done by last month's 

 gale than by the frosts of January and February or by the floods of 

 November. In a few days nearly all traces of the greatest flood 

 probably ever recorded in the annals of Hertfordshire had passed 

 away ; in a few months our burst mains and service-pipes may all 

 be renewed or repaired ; but never will the many mighty monarchs 

 of our parks and woods, relics of our primeval English forests, 

 which have been laid low by the recent gale, again raise their 

 heads and look proudly down upon their companions of more 

 recent growth. The damage done to churches and other buildings 

 throughout the Midland Counties and the South of England can 

 easily be repaired, but when thousands of trees are uprooted on 

 a single estate, as at Sandringham in Norfolk and on the adjoining 

 estate of Castle Rising, the loss is irreparable — generations will 

 pass away before younger trees can take their place. 



Although there was not such wholesale destruction as this in 

 Hertfordshire, our loss has been heavy, and the gale swept with 

 devastating force over the greater part if not the whole of the 

 county. The maximum velocity of the wind appears to have been 

 about that of an express train, as will be seen from the following 

 observation of Mr. Edward Mawley at Rosebank, Berkhamsted : — 



"Throughout the day of the 23rd of March and during the 

 following night the wind blew constantly from S.S.W., and at an 

 average velocity of 17 miles an hour. By noon of the 24th the 

 direction had changed to S.W., and the velocity had increased to 

 25 miles an hour. At 1 p.m. the wind was still in the S.W., and 

 the mean rate of movement had increased further to 32 miles. 

 During the next hour the wind was veering gradually from S.W. 

 to W.S.W., and the record for the hour reached 40 miles. Between 



2 and 3 p.m the direction changed slowly from W.S.W. to "W., 

 and it was during this time that the gale reached its height, the 

 velocity for that hour amounting to 44 miles. After this the 

 strength of the wind gradually decreased until between 3 and 

 4 o'clock the next morning, when the velocity had fallen to 5 miles 

 an hour. Since observations were first made here ten years ago 

 I have never before recorded so high a velocity as 44 miles for 

 a single hour. The individual gusts were often very fierce. At 



3 p.m. during the gale 1 obtained a mean velocity for a quarter of 

 a minute of 60 miles an hour." 



We have here given not only the velocity of the wind and its 

 variation from time to time as recorded by an anemometer, but also 



