Vol 5 - Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian ...

7'ransactions. 17electricity. Some rain fell on Sabbath morning, but it was nottill three o'clock in the afternoon that the downpour commencedin right earnest. At that hour there was a sharp shower, followed,after a brief cessation, by a tremendous torrent of rain,accompanied by numerous peals of thunder and flashes of lightning,and shortly after by a high wind, the noise of which almostdrowned the sound of the thunder, and the sky at the same timegrew so dark that it was hardly possible to see to read. Thedrains being insuflicient to carry ofl" the great body of watei' whichfell in so short a space of time, many of the streets and roadways ofthe town and suburbs, and of the areas and cellars in low-lying parts,were flooded to a considerable depth.The storm appears to havebeen more severely felt on the shore of the Solway Firth, particularlyin the neighbourhood of the Brow Well, than furtherinland. The following description, given in the Standard newspaperat the time, is worthy of being quoted :— " Before theheaviest of the rainfall, a hurricane was observed suddenly tospring up, apparently about Southerness Point, and drive massesof cloud before it in the direction of Silloth. The sight was oneof terrific grandeur, so rapidly did the clouds speed along, and sotumultuously did they roll over each other. When near to Silloth,the storm seemed suddenly to veer, and swept across the channeland inland in a north-westerly direction. The roar of the windwas heard a considerable time before its force could be felt, andthen the few persons who were out found it impossible to standagainst it, and were fain to lay themselves prostrate. The rarephenomenon of a water spout was also witnessed. The water waslashed up into a tapering column, described to us as having beenhigher than the Midsteeple ofDumfries, and this careered alongin a threatening manner, but it gradually subsided without anymischievous result, finally disappearing a little to the north ofLadyland, a farm about two miles from Clarencefield."The wettest month of the year was September, with a fall of5 -79 in., being 3-5 in. above the average. The driest month wasJune, when the total fall was only 0-77 in. There were 224days on which precipitation took place inone form or other, buton 25 of these the fall did not exceed one hundredth of an inch.There were 18 on which snow fell, and 206 rain— total rainfallfor the year, 40-63 in. ; mean of 26 years at Cargen, as reportedby Mr Dudgeon, 44-85 in. The average rainfall for Dumfries,according to a table given in Sir John Herschell's article on3