154 THE STORMS OF THE WINTER 1865-6, 



rain fell. 



On the 21st the barometer fell more rapidly: — the wind was SSE: — 

 peculiar clouds in the upper strata told plainly of the presence of the 

 warm Southerly current: — at noon the wind rose highe.-r and gave a pres- 

 sure of 71bs. :— distant objects could be seen with unnsual distinctness — a 

 sign of rain, during the evening the sky was often covered with a thin 

 sheet of white cloud in a few minutes — indicating -wind and rain fre- 

 quently. 



The tempest is now raging with great fury on the coasts of Ireland, 

 and our barometer is falling rapidly. Let us then collect the indications 

 of its approach before we record its violence on the 22nd and 23rd. And 

 first, we will note the important fact that our barometer has been con- 

 tinuously falling ever since the 18th, and the fall per hour has been 

 increasing every day, plainly telling us of a long period of unsettled and 

 perhaps stormy weather. Its rapid fall during the night of the 21st and 

 the morning of the 22nd, warned us that the terrible vortex was not 

 far away from us, and to the westward, perhaps even then rushing with 

 resistless fiuy across the great limestone plain of Ireland. We know 

 that it will approach us from the "W", because the mercury has fallen so 

 considerably owing to the approach of warm moist light air from the 

 south. The unsettled state of the wind for the preceding three days, and 

 its frequent changes against the sun, pointed to a strife between the cold 

 air from the north and warmer air from the S, and the barometer foretold 

 the issue of the strife. The variable teniperatiures also confirmed this. 



The face of the sky has almost daily given proofs of great atmospheric 

 disturbance. 



As early as the 20th the long fitful gusts which are a characteristic 

 of winds from the W, were heard in the evening. Now for the 22nd the 

 day when the storm passed Halifax. 



The 22nd brought the storm in all itsfurj'. From early morning till 

 12.30 p.m., the barometer fell fast ; the temperature of the .nir rose ; the 

 wind moved from S.E. to S., and then to S.W., and its force increased 

 from 2 to 2 lbs. before noon. Nearly 02 inch of rain fell and the sky 

 was a mass of dark cloud driving along with the wind. Soon after mid- 

 day the barometer began to rise, and before 1.30 p.m., the wind had got 

 to W and its pressure had reached 20 lbs. on the square foot. Torrents 

 of blinding rain were now thro-wn down from the sky. 



