The Hurricane of May 1862. 441 



extending from S.S.E. to W.S.W.; wind S.W. ; storm over at 

 a quarter past seven. At Silloth a storm at 10 p.m. At 

 Skiffnel (Salop) there was no thunder but incessant rain, with a 

 N.N.W. wind. At Ventnor also,, and at Clayton., Hurst-Pier- 

 point, and Clifton incessant rain but no storm. At Sandgate 

 (Kent), Tunbridge, Kamsgate, Gloucester, Byfleet, Barnstaple, 

 and Aldershott there was no storm. At Kington (Hereford- 

 shire) incessant rain, and unusually dark, but no storm. 



On the previous evening, it is worthy of remark that a 

 violent thunderstorm was raging in the Isle of Wight, extend- 

 ing all the way to London. Also at Clitheroe, Tunbridge, 

 Hurst-Pierpoint, Byfleet, Aldershott, Nottingham, Derbyshire, 

 Leicestershire, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, accompanied with 

 large hailstones and rose coloured lightning. At Highfield 

 House there was continuous thunder all the afternoon in S. 

 and S.B., from storms following each other in rapid succession 

 in a S.W. current ; at 4 p.m. the wind, which had been N., 

 veered to W., and at ten minutes to eight a thunderstorm, 

 in a S.S.E. current, commenced passing over, the lightning 

 exceedingly vivid and very blue in colour. At eight o' clock, 

 for two minutes, there was a hailstorm with stones of a conical 

 form, and as large as nuts. Above an inch of rain fell. In 

 half an hour this storm had passed over to N., but there was 

 much lightning and heavy rain all night. The similarity in 

 many respects of this storm with the one next day makes it 

 desirable to mention it briefly. 



And this leads us to the memorable 7th of May, a day that 

 will long be remembered in Nottinghamshire, memorable for 

 the hurricane near Newark, and for the violence of the thunder- 

 storm in the neighbourhood and elsewhere, particularly striking 

 from the night-like darkness, the great size and curious forms of 

 the hailstones, and on account of the magnificence of the colour 

 of the lightning. At Highneld House the morning was fine and 

 sultry, about noon thunder was heard in the S.E., and again 

 continuously in the S. and S.E. at 3 p.m. At half-past 

 two the temperature in the shade had risen to 73 "6° with a W. 

 wind, but with clouds whirling round in all directions ; a low 

 current carried the broken nimbi rapidly from the W., whilst 

 at the same time the storm-cloud was approaching in a S.S.E. 

 current ; at 4h. 30m. the temperature had fallen to 60° (a de- 

 scent of 13 ^ in two hours), whilst the wind had risen to half a 

 gale. At this time in the S.E., low, long-rolling distant thunder 

 gave ominous signs of an approaching storm of great magni- 

 tude. The sky gradually became blacker and blacker until, at 

 five o' clock, it was darker than I had ever before seen it in the 

 daytime, with the solitary exception of the total eclipse of the 

 sun in July 1860, within the central path in Spain. A book 



