96 



MR ROBERT COCKBURN MOBSMAN ON 



REMARKS. 



Gale 



Lightning 

 Great frost 



1795 



1796 

 1796 



1797 



1799 

 1799 



1800 



1800 



1801 

 1801 



Gale and rainstorm 



Storm 



Lunar rainbow 



Thunderstorm 



Suowstorm 

 Cold summer 



Snowstorm 



Frost 



Rainstorm 

 Earthquake 



January 13. Heavy gale of wind from 4 to 5.30 a.m., attended with 

 rain and flashes of very vivid lightning from the S.W. 



January 20. A hash of lightning came down the chimney into the 

 porter's room in Watson's Hospital, doing slight damage. 



January 20-27. Continued snowstorm. Mail coaches delayed. 



February 9. In the High Street a woman was dangerously wounded on 

 the head owing to a huge mass of snow falling off the roof of one of the 

 houses. 



February 11. Very heavy snowfall; so deep was the snow that the 

 hackney coaches were frequently obliged to draw with four horses. Mail 

 coaches snowed up. 



February 12. The snow lies excessively deep in the streets of 

 Edinburgh and in the neighbourhood. Three hundred soldiers and 

 labourers employed by the Magistrates to clear the roads to the 

 coal-hills. 



February 14. A gentle thaw commences, with the thermometer from 34 

 to 40 degrees ; this, however, is soon again succeeded by frost. Frost broke 

 up on 3rd of March, having lasted 53 days. 



November 18. Severe N.E. gale with great rainstorm, supposed to have 

 been the worst for 30 years. About 10 a.m. the Water of Leith rose to such 

 a height that the low grounds adjacent to it were submerged ; bridge at 

 Bonnington Mills swept away; ground floors of houses in back of Canongate, 

 Cowgate, etc., submerged ; roads impassable. Meadow near Hope Place like 

 large lake, p.m., snow. 



January 23. Severe storm from S.S.W. that blew down trees and un- 

 roofed houses. 



December 27. This evening, about five minutes before ten o'clock, there 

 was observed in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh a most beautiful prismatic 

 rainbow of considerable extent, in the north-west quarter of the horizon, 

 directly opposite to the moon, then two days past full, and shining very 

 dazzlingly from the south-east through cold, stormy, flying clouds or showers. 

 This phenomenon, which is believed to be a very unusual one, continued with 

 little alteration for more than five minutes, differing nothing in appearance 

 from a faint solar rainbow, the red, yellow, and green colours, and even a 

 shade of the blue or purple being distinctly marked, without any resem- 

 blance whatever to an Aurora Borealis. 



July 14. Sharp thunderstorm ; "a flash of lightning darted down the 

 chimney and entered a room on the ground floor of a house in the Water of 

 Leith village near this city." A girl eleven years of age was burnt in a 

 severe manner. A number of copper and iron articles which were near the 

 chimney changed colour. 



February 9. This day " was remarkable for the most violent storm of 

 wind and snow that is remembered in this country." — Playfair. 



The period from the 20th of March to the 20th October was characterised 

 by a great depression of temperature, so much so that the harvest was not 

 generally got in till the end of November, and in high grounds till nearly 

 the end of December. 



January 2. Heavy fall of snow accompanied by a strong gale from the 

 S.E. Snow lying from 2 to 3 feet in depth. Great damage on east coast ; 

 many vessels lost. It was computed that 80 seamen belonging to the port 

 of Aberdeen alone perished on this occasion. 



February 7 to 14. Severe frost; the new basin at Leith was nearly 

 covered with ice. Severe snowstorms in England, the London mail due 

 on the 14th not arriving till Wednesday the 17th. 



September 4. Exceedingly heavy shower of rain at 7 p.m. " The 

 heaviest shower in my remembrance." — Waterston. 



September 7. Slight shock of earthquake felt in Edinburgh at 6 a.m. 

 Beds, tables, chairs, etc., shook violently in some houses. The motion was 

 from N. to S. 



