200 OBSEEVATIONS ON THE WINDS. 



(130.) Weather. — Eegarding the Weather accompanying Cyclonic Storms 

 which cross the British Isles, the Hon. Ealph Abercromby has carefully 

 studied the Weather Charts issued by our Meteorological Office, and given 

 his conclusions in the work mentioned below,* as follows : — The broad 

 features of the Weather in a Cyclone are — a patch of rain near the centre, 

 a ring of cloud surrounding the rain, and blue sky outside the whole system. 

 The precise form and position of these areas vary with the type of pressure 

 distribution, with the intensity (wind force) of the Cyclone, and the rate 

 of its progress ; they are also influenced by local, diurnal, and seasonal 

 variations. 



The weather and sky over the whole front of a Cyclone — i.e., all that 

 lies in front of the trough (118) is characterized by a muggy oppressive feel 

 of the air, and a dirty gloomy sky with clouds of a stratified type. The 

 line of the trough is often associated with a squall or heavy shower, com- 

 monly known as a " clearing shower." The whole of the rear of a Cyclone 

 is characterized by a sharp brisk feel of the air, and a hard firm sky with 

 clouds of cumulus type, cirrus being almost unknown in the rear of a 

 cyclone-centre in the Temperate Zone. 



It might obviously be expected that the weather in any part of a large 

 Cyclone, as, for instance, in one of those which completely cross the 

 Atlantic Ocean, would be very different from the weather in a small 

 Cyclone which perhaps only just crossed the British Isles, and this is fully 

 borne out by observation. In very large Cyclones, the steepest gradient, 

 and the bad weather which accompanies them, are always found at some 

 distance from the centre. Eound the centre itself, when the gradients 

 are very steep, the sky is broken with hardish clouds, and there is a cold 

 pleasant feeling in the air. In small Cyclones the heaviest rain usually 

 surrounds the centre, and extends more or less to one end or the other, 

 according to the direction of the nearest area of high pressure, and the 

 steepest gradient. 



The broad features of the Weather in an Anti-Cyclone, are — blue sky, 

 dry cold air, a hot sun, and hazy horizon, with very little wind — in fact, 

 the very antithesis of everything which characterizes a Cyclone. Synoptic 

 charts show great irregularity in the position of cloud, &c. 



(131.) Mr. Ley, in his pamphlet already quoted on pp. 183, 184, makes 

 the following remarks, and by comparing these with the accompanying 

 diagram, a clear idea will be obtained of the distribution of Clouds and 

 Weather in a typical Cyclonic disturbance. 



In the most general way it may be stated that foul weather charac- 

 terizes the Cyclonic, and fair weather the Anti-Cyclonic systems ; and it 

 will at once be seen that to this statement corresponds the old but loose 

 and vague rule that the barometer falls before rain or storm, and rises 

 before fine or calm weather. 



In the extreme front of a large depression, there commonly stretches a 

 great bank or sheet of cirro-stratus cloud. The movement of the upper 

 current which carries the outlying parts of this elevated cloud-bank is 



• " Weather, a Popular Exposition of the Nature of Weather Changes from Day to 

 Day," by the Hon. R. Abercromby, F.R.M.S., &o., 1887- 



