25th. Clear morning (N.-W, light); 2 P.M. (E.) calm; tufts of tangled
cirri in north intermixed with radiating streaks, all passing eastward;
ends clear.
26th. Hazy morning (S.-E) cloudy; noon, a heavy windy looking bank in
north (S. fresh), with dense cirrus fringe above on its upper edge;
clear in S.
27th. Clear, warm, (W.); bank in north; noon bank covered all the
northern sky, and fresh breeze; 10 P.M., a few flashes to the northward.
28th. Uniform dense cirro-stratus, (S. fresh); noon showers all round;
2 P.M., a heavy squall of wind, with thunder and rain (S.-W. to N.-W.);
8 P.M., a line of heavy cumuli in south; 8.30 P.M., a very bright and
high cumulus in S.-W., protruding through a layer of dark stratus;
8.50 P.M., the cloud bearing E. by S., with three rays of electric
light.[16]
[Illustration: Fig. 17]
_June_ 29th. A stationary stratus over all, (S.-W. light); clear at
night, but distant lightning in S.
30th. Stratus clouds (N.-E. almost calm); 8 A.M., raining gently;
3 P.M., stratus passing off to S; 8 P.M., clear, pleasant.
_July_ 1st. Fine and clear; 8 A.M., cirrus in sheets, curls, wisps, and
gauzy wreathes, with patches beneath of darker shade, all nearly
motionless; close and warm (N.-E.); a long, low bank of haze in S., with
one large cumulus in S.-W., but very distant.
_July_ 2d. At 5 A.M., overcast generally with hazy clouds and fog of
prismatic shades, chiefly greenish-yellow; 7 A.M., (S.-S.-E.
freshening,) thick in W; 8 A.M., (S. fresh) much cirrus, thick and
gloomy; 9 A.M., a clap of thunder, and clouds hurrying to N.; a reddish
haze all around; at noon the margin of a line of yellowish-red cumuli
just visible above a gloomy-looking bank of haze in N.-N.-W., (S. very
fresh;) warm, 86d; more cumuli in N.-W.--the whole line of cumuli N. are
separated from the clouds south by a clear space. These clouds are borne
rapidly past the zenith, but never get into the clear space--they seem
to melt or to be turned off N.-E. The cumuli in N. and N.-W., slowly
spreading E. and S.; 3 P.M., the bank hidden by small cumuli; 4 P.M.,
very thick in north, magnificent cumuli visible sometimes through the
breaks, and beyond them a dark, watery back-ground, (S. strong);
4.30 P.M., wind round to N.-W. in a severe squall; 5 P.M., heavy rain,
with thunder, &c.--all this time there is a bright sky in the south
visible through the rain 15d high; 7 P.M., clearing, (S.-W. mod.)
_July_ 3d. Very fine and clear, (N.-W.); noon, a line of large cumuli in
N., and dark lines of stratus below, the cumuli moving eastward; 6 P.M.,
their altitude 2d 40'. Velocity 1d per minute; 9 P.M., much lightning in
the bank north.[17]
_July_ 4th. 6 A.M., a line of small cumulo-stratus, extending east and
west, with a clear horizon north and south 10d high. This band[18] seems
to have been thrown off by the central yesterday, as it moves slowly
south, preserving its parallelism, although the clouds composing it move
eastward. Fine and cool all day--(N.-W. mod.)--Lightning in N.
_July_ 5th. Cloudy (N. almost calm), thick in E., clear in W.; same all
day.
6th. Fine and clear (E. light); small cumuli at noon; clear night.
7th. Warm (S. E. light); cirrus bank N. W.; noon (S.) thickening in N.;
6 P.M., hazy but fine; 8 P.M., lightning in N.; 10 P.M., the lightning
shows a heavy line of cumuli along the northern horizon; calm and very
dark and incessant lightning in N.
8th. Last night after midnight commencing raining, slowly and steadily,
but leaving a line of lighter sky south; much lightning all night, but
little thunder.
8th. 6 A.M. Very low scud (500 feet high) driving south, still calm
below, (N. light); 10 A.M., clearing a little; a bank north with cirrus
spreading south; same all day; 9 P.M., wind freshening (N. stormy);
heavy cumuli visible in S.; 10.30 P.M., quite clear, but a dense watery
haze obscuring the stars; 12 P.M., again overcast: much lightning in S.
and N.-W.
9th. Last night (2 A.M. of 9th) squall from N.-W. very black; 4 A.M.,
still raining and blowing hard, the sky a perfect blaze, but very few
flashes reach the ground; 7 A.M., raining hard; 8 A.M. (N.-W. strong); a
constant roll of thunder; noon (N.-E.); 2 P.M. (N.); 4 P.M. clearing;
8 P.M., a line of heavy cumuli in S., but clear in N-W., N., and
N.-E.[19]