Meteorology of Whitehaven. 31 



succeeding the convulsion (the 10th) I noticed a very remarkable 

 arched cloud, extending from SE. to NW., with numerous feathery 

 offshoots, and in this respect somewhat resembling the vertebrae of a 

 fish. This cloud was probably of electric origin, and it may be ob- 

 served that the clouds were evidently highly electric for some time 

 previous to the occurrence of the earthquake. 



There were frequent hail showers, but lightning was seen on one 

 occasion only during the month.* On the night of the 29th, the 

 thermometer fell to 26°*5, an unusually low temperature for the west 

 coast at this early period of the winter. At 11 o'clock, on the 

 morning of the 30th, the thermometer stood at 20 o, 5 on the summit 

 of Sea Fell Pike, and the simultaneous temperature of evaporation 

 was 19 degrees. The rain gauges were, of course, all frozen up. 

 The mountains were repeatedly capped with snow, and on the 27th, 

 the valleys were whitened for the first time this winter. 



December. — In many respects an extraordinary month ; besides 

 being the mildest and wettest December on record, it is marked by 

 sudden and enormous fluctuations of the atmospheric pressure, — by 

 the small difference between the temperature of the day and night 

 (5°*3) — by thunder-storms, and by two of the most terrific storms of 

 wind which have visited the British Islands for many years. 



The first of the tempests or hurricanes alluded to, occurred on the 

 morning of Christmas-day ; it was at its height from 3 to 5 o'clock 

 a.m. ; and, during this period, it was considered to have exceeded in 

 violence any storm we have had since the memorable 7th of January, 

 1839. A Parhelion was seen about noon the same day, and at l h 

 40 m : on the following morning, a dazzling flash of lightning was 

 followed, almost instantaneously, by a terrific peal of thunder. The 

 flash of lightning was one of the most intensely vivid the writer ever 

 witnessed, even in a tropical climate, notwithstanding the light 

 emitted by a full moon, — and the circumstance of his eyelids being 

 closed at the time. The electrical discharge was immediately pre- 

 ceded by a heavy hail shower, and followed by a stormy night. 



The storm of the 27th was much more persistent, and continued 

 much longer than that just referred to. The moderate gale which 

 prevailed on the 26th, increased greatly in violence during the night ; 

 and, on the morning of the 27th, it amounted almost to a hurricane, 

 attended by continuous heavy rain, till 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 when it began to abate. At, and after noon, (about the time of high 

 water) the sea had risen to a fearful height, the piers were com- 

 pletely buried by the waves, and the spray was actually driven in 

 vast volumes over the cliffs to the north of the town, which are about 

 90 feet above the sea level, and considerably beyond high water 



* In Bassenthwaite, thunder was heard on the 5th, and again on the 27th, 

 accompanied by lightning. 



