3 



52 AUSTRALIAN WEATHER. 



On November 13, 1893, came a burster of little intensity or 

 interest save from the very remarkable cloud roll, the finest that 

 has been seen in Sydney for some years. The weather conditions 

 at 9 a.m. of November 13 are well shown in weather chart No. 5. 

 An anticyclone rested over Western Australia, with its centre 

 about latitude 30 south, and longitude about seven hundred 

 miles west of Adelaide, while in front of it is a well marked A 

 depression, with its axis north-north-west and south-south-east, 

 and lyir.g centrally over Victoria and the western districts of 

 New South Wales, about three hundred miles west of Sydney. 

 The whole system was moving very rapidly, and from the position 

 of the centre of the high pressure at 9 a.m. of the 14th (weather 

 chart No. 6) the forward motion in twenty-four hours is seen to 

 be fully eight hundred miles. About the A there was a well 

 defined circulation of fresh winds, north-west and south-west, 

 rain had fallen in the northern districts of South Australia and 

 Queensland, and during the forenoon of 13th there were passing 

 thunder squalls and half formed festoon clouds, which were in 

 rapid motion and had a mild disturbed appearance. All day the 

 upper strata of cloud was coming from north-west to west, during 

 the forenoon temperature in the shade rose to 82. At 3 p.m. 

 seven-tenths of the sky was obscured by cumulus, cirro-cumulus, 

 cirrus, and stratus. At 4 p.m. they were much the same, except 

 that in the north the cumulus clouds were bolder and looked like 

 a wall of rocks, snow-white in colour, with horizontal seams or 

 joints. At 5 p.m. thunder clouds seemed to be in all directions. 

 At 6 p.m. a southerly roll could be seen low down in south-west, 

 with much lightning playing about over it in the cumulo-stratus 

 and cumulus (Plate -^ 



As the burster came on, the stratus on the horizon rose 

 gradually up and revealed its true character, at 6*25 p.m. the 

 roll was about 4 in diameter, and had a lower fringe like a very 

 narrow roll of cumulus, above this a dark black roll of stratus 

 surmounted by a feathery fringe, turning up and trending to 

 south, while under the great roll at its northern end, could be 



