244 
J. H0PKINS0N-RECENT STORMS AND FLOODS. 
The gale was also severely felt between Redbourn and Luton. 
A large branch from one of the fine elms on Redbourn Common 
was blown down, and also a large tree on the top of the hill on the 
road between Markyate Street and Luton. My own garden at 
Watford suffered, a conifer being uprooted which had withstood 
the storms of nearly thirty years, having been planted in 1873. 
This is the severest gale which has visited Hertfordshire since 
that of the 24th of March, 1895, of which an account was given in 
Vol. YIII of our ‘Transactions’ (pp. 199-202). 
XXVI. 
THE METEOR OF THE 13 th OF JULY, 1902 . 
Head at Watford , 16 th December, 1902 . 
As seen at Watford .—Standing in my garden and facing south¬ 
west, I saw on my left a sudden flash of intensely bright white light 
casting a strong shadow. Immediately turning round, I saw the 
meteor as a ball of light disappearing behind a tree and leaving 
a trail which simultaneously became sinuous, changed from nearly 
white through red to violet, and resolved itself into a chain of 
separate points of light or “ stars,” and on their fading away the 
impression was left on the retina (perhaps an illusion) of a dark 
line in the sky. The time was between 10.30 and 10.31 p.m., the 
direction south-east, the trail passed through an angle of from 50° 
or 55° to 40° with the horizon, and inclined to the right or south 
about 10° or 12° with the vertical, and it was visible from 5 to 
10 seconds as nearly as I can estimate .—John Uopkinson. (From 
Symons’ ‘Monthly Meteorol. Mag.,’ vol. xxxvii, p. 143.) 
As seen at Uitchin .—Whilst walking with my wife and a friend 
on Sunday night, we were astonished by a sudden and brilliant 
light, very similar in character to the acetylene light, which threw 
deep shadows of ourselves on the road. Turning round, I was 
just in time to see a ball of light, of about the [apparent] size 
of the full moon, high in the south-east, falling towards the south. 
It left a trail of considerable length, serpentine and of a reddish 
hue, which lasted some 10 or 15 seconds. The time was 10.32. 
The meteor had an elevation of about 45° above the horizon.— 
FrankLatchmore. (From ‘HertfordshireMercury,’ 19th July, 1902.) 
