158 Meteorological Journal for Jan. 1826. 
shifted to the N. and N. W. with a low temperature till the 13th 
instant, which was the coldest day and night we had had since 
the 15th of January 1820. Here the thermometer in the ex- 
ternal air at 7 o’clock A.M. on the 14th, was as low as 17 de- 
grees: in London, on the morning of the 16th, it sank to 15 
degrees; and.in Paris it was said to have: receded several de- 
grees lower. In the morning of the 8th all the pumps that 
were not under cover were ice-bound, and continued so nine 
or ten days. On the 9th, the skaters assembled upon the ice 
in Stoke’s Bay-Marsh, and upon the Moat round the Fortifi- 
cation of Gosport, where they amused themselves and the 
bystanders eight or nine days; as the calm, clear, and. frosty 
weather afforded a favourable opportunity. © In the morning 
of the 15th there was an apparent change in the atmosphere, 
when three winds prevailed simultaneously ; viz. the lower one 
from the E., the next from the S.E., and the upper one from 
N.W.., witha rising temperature, which continued till the 21st, 
when the external thermometer rose to 46 degrees: but the 
lower wind being dry, the barometer rose steadily till the even- 
ing of the 17th; and on the 18th: the frost went off, succeeded 
by drizzling rain. A more favourable thaw could not have 
been desired, as it was remarkably gradual, attended with 
scarcely sufficient rain to wet the ground; and the thick masses 
of ice had not entirely dissolved into a fluid state till the close 
of the month. Here we had not enough snow to cover the 
ground; but in the northern parts of the country it was se- 
veral feet in depth, so that the stage coaches could not pass 
for some days. In Paris too it was nearly a foot in depth, 
which was deeper than had been’ known there for some years 
past. The change in the atmosphere, from a very cold and 
dry state to a considerable increase of temperature and great 
dampness, was attended, ‘as usual, with colds, coughs, and 
rheumatism. The weather, however, was seasonable and 
healthy till the full of the moon. 
A few minutes after sunset on the 9th, there appeared round 
the horizon a dark purple haze with an even altitude of about 
5 degrees; next to this was a band of red 24 degrees wide, 
surmounted by a band of yellow of the same width. The 
primitive colours thus forming contiguous bands near the ho- 
rizon, but brighter diametrically opposite to the sun, hada fine 
appearance, and were produced by reflection of the sun’s hori- 
zontal rays from the falling frozen dew or descending hoar frost. 
The atmospheric and meteoric pheenomena that have come 
within our observations this month are one parhelion, one so- 
lar and three lunar halos, two meteors, and six gales of wind, 
or days on which they have prevailed, from the N.E. 
Numerical 
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