GREAT COLDNESS IN CUBA. 347 



prevalence of a cold upper current from the 

 north, which met and mingled with the warm 

 southern air, and suddenly congealed its vapour 

 into snow. It had not the local character of the 

 summer tornado ; for it was followed by great 

 cold over a large extent of country. 



I shall close this imperfect history of thunder 

 storms with the account of an extraordinary and 

 sudden coldness which occurred in the island of 

 Cuba, on the 24th of May, 1809, that was evi- 

 dently caused by a descent of air from the upper 

 regions. 



Cornelius Roberts, a sugar and coffee planter, 

 who resided forty years on the island, informed 

 the author, " that after a hurricane had been 

 blowing from the south east and south, from the 

 22nd, until eleven o'clock, A.M. of the 24th, a 

 calm followed for an hour, when the wind pre- 

 vailed from the north west. At the same time* 

 the atmosphere became extremely dark, like 

 night, accompanied with a roaring in the air, 

 tremour of the earth, and intense cold. Every- 

 thing green was killed, and became black, as if 

 a fire had passed over the country for several 

 miles in breadth, and about sixty miles in 

 length :" which proves that a mass of air may 

 descend from above and refrigerate the lower 

 atmosphere of the tropical regions, as in the 

 middle latitudes, though such a phenomenon is 

 extremely rare. 



