'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From December 1854 to March 1856. (New Issue.) Edited by the Secretary. Volume XII.' [‎19] (130/258)

ON HALSTORMS IN INDIA— 1853.
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of it:—The sky until about 2 p. m. had been bright and cloudless ; but shortly after, threat
ening clouds began to press together into a frowning mass ; and at last, when all their batteries
were in order, crash after crash of thunder, preceded by dazzling flashes of forked lightning
burst forth, and, as all heaven was converted into one vast shower-bath, the streaming rain with
hailstones, poured down with inconceivable violence. The plain was one broad sheet of water,
and literally covered with hailstones : the river at Mahoolee, and the nullas, wells and tanks,
were overflooded : chuppered huts thrown down and blown away, and chuppered roofs actually
torn up from the rafters. The fury of the wind may be conceived from a Dumnee having
been forced back some ten or twelve yards from its position ! The poor doubtless have suffered
to a very considerable extent by this storm—the like of which it would appear, never before
In the memory of some of the oldest inhabitants, occurred in this locality. The heat, when
the storm commenced, was 80 ° ; during the Interval that it rained, the mercury fell to TO °
and after it cleared up, it again rose to 75 °.—A male convict in the’ Sattara Hill Fort was kill
ed by lightning. On the day following, the 21th, also, we were visited by a strong shower of
rain and hailstones, though comparatively far short o{ the quantity that fell the day preceding.
Since then we have had only intermittent, moderate passsing showers.
22.— uailstoesi at sattara on the 6th may 1853.—Lat. 17,40 n., Long. 74.2 e. Alt. 2,320.
We hear from Sattara that that station also was visited by a thunder-storm on Friday last,
the day on which Poona was similarly favored. We regret to hear that the electric fluid
struck a Peon A low-ranking infantryman, orderly or assistant (South Asian context). of the Commissioner’s Office whilst he was walking along the public road and
killed him instantly. Hailstones of large size fell in abundance, and the wind blew a perfect
hurricane for about an hour. The storm appears to have commenced at Sattara precisely at
the time that it did here, and to have been of about the same duration.
23.— HAILTSORM AT LAHORE AND MEEAN MEER ON THE llTH, 12lH AND 13TH MAY 1853—
Lat. 31.36 n., Long. 74.24 Alt, 1,180.
Mef.an Meeu, May 14.— Private letters inform us that on the nights of the 11th and 12th, and
again on the afternoon of the 13th, Lahore and Meean Meer, &c., were visited by heavy and
most welcome storms of hail and rain, which on each occasion lasted for some hours They
had thoroughly cooled the air ; and one of our correspondents says—« what has become of all
the flies I know not—please thegods the heavy down pouring rain we have been blessed with has des •
troyed the greater number of them—but, be this as it may, whereas up to the 20th instant they
were so numerous as to amount to a positive plague,—such as Egypt knew,—not one is now
visible even out of doors.”— Mofussilite, May 19.
24.— hailstorm at peshawur on the 12th may 1853—Lat. 33.59 Long. 71.40 Alt. 1,063.
We have had as usual very changeable weather. The firstpart of the week it was desperate,
ly hot, but the clouds got up gradually, and yesterday we had a slight fall of rain, which
cooled the atmosphere a little. The clouds are still hanging about, and I dare say we shall
have another fall. I see they have had a terrific storm at Ferozepore, just about the same time
that we had a slight one here. It would be curious to trace the course these storms take • here
it was very slight, but the damage done in the Eusofzye country Is almost incredible. They sent
in a report that 84 men and 3000 head of cattle had been killed by the hail. That unfortunate
Eusofzye country 1 the people are trying to get the revenue remitted this year on account of
ie misfortunes that have befallen them, and I dare say they make out as strong a case as they
can. We may expect soon to hear of the country being without an inhabitant, it was depopula
ted, and I don t know what not by the fever, and then came the hailstorm, it is true enough
that a number of lives were lost by the hail, I believe ; and the size and hardness of the hail
stones that frequently fall here are really almost incredible .—Delhi Gazette, May 28.
The following is the letter from our Peshawur correspondent, dated June 4th :
Tne only news I can give you from this place is about the weather, and really it is so
extraordinary here that one feels inclined to keep a Meteorologiccal Journal. We had a
senes of dust-storms that commenced last Sunday, and continued for the three following days,
eoming up about 4 p. m., and on Thursday a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, accom
panied by hail, or rather I should say a fall of blocks of ice. Many of the stones were round,
nard as granite, and 3 inches in diameter, but they were of all shapes »nd sizes. I no longer
listen with incredulous ears to accounts of men and cattle being killed by hail. The stones too
leil to the ground with such terrific force, that one of the larger ones would certainly have cut