Page:Item 10 1862.pdf/108

From Historical Hastings
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Weston-super-mare also wrote to the Times as follows:- "A strong south wind arose on th(sic) 19th, which gradually increased in intensity till midnight, when it blew with great fury. More than ordinary interest is attached to this tempest by its sudden appearance . . . The storm has continued, with very little abatement the whole of this day, Sept. 20." The writer last quoted had, probably, no just conception of cause and effect here witnessed, and as little ability, perhaps to trace the cause of the series of storms other meteorological phenomena which immediately followed. There was certainly a rare combination of planetary influence, and, as the sequel proved, an equally rare manifestation of electrical disturbances. What wonder, then, that our "Week to Come" column commenced its previscous(sic) thus? -

"The signs which appear together
Denote a week's unsettled weather,"

or that the parallel declination of Mercury and Venus, with numerous similar configurations, produced gales of wind at Portsmouth and other places, and sudden squalls of cold rain and hail in our own locality? This on the 20th, yet, was the 21st a still more noteworthy day; for, besides the hasty showers of the early morning and the frequent squalls of wind, there were mock-suns, mock-moons, rainbows and other atmospheric peculiarities. To begin with the parhelia, we may describe them as differing to any similar phenomena we had previously witnessed. A solar halo was formed about 1 pm., and at 1.30 the solar image was reflected right and left of the true sun, but instead of being intersected, as usually observed by the luminous circle, the mock-suns were seen at some distance beyond. Setting off from the upper portion of the halo was also a segment of another circle of larger dimensions, and forming, as it were, the semicircle of a different radiation. The following rude figure may give some idea of the appearance of the phenomenon.
Illustration for Brett Vol. 10 pg. 102.png

In the evening an equally beautiful phenomenon in the shape of a lunar halo and two paraselense or mock-moons, was witnessed by many persons in St. Leonards, but before the privilege was extended to the writer, the satellite and her apparition had sunk behind a mass of dark vapour. A sight more rare, but perhap, less magnificent, soon presented itself. High up in a tolerably clear zenith appeared very distinctly, first the major portion, and alternately, the whole of a very bright luminous circle, supposed to be the lunar halo thrown thither by reflection from the upper surface of the opaque clouds, which at some thirty or forty degrees distance hid the moon from public gaze. We are not sure that our explanation of the phenomenon is a correct one, but whether the object was caused by reflection or refraction, or a double reflection, the fact remains the same - namely, that it was an extraordinary occurrence, and one whose like we had never before seen or hear of. It was visi-