, 1893-09-16
THE WEATHER IN DEMERARA.

The very unusual electrical disturbance
of the past few months intensely accumulated
of late, especially at night. accompanied often
by equally unusually heavy rain-heavy con
sidering he time of year, still prevails over
Georgetown and the adjacent country to the
detriment frequently of ordinary business and
trade, of the maintenance of the municipal
colony and estates road and Of noarly all
vegetation, a necessary reservation being
made as to the ubiquitous weeds of %cultlya-
ted land. Without any warning on Saturday
afternoon last a prolonged storm burst over
the capital and ere it had. spent itself 2.25
inches Of rainfall was recorded II storm
seemed to pass over the city and return again
but in watching the varying directions from
whence came the flashes of lightning, crashes
of thunder, and the varying drift Of wind and
rain, it was not at all certain if there were not
three independent storms in progress slmul-
taneously, and approaching from different
directions, oolliding and contending for mas
terry or warning over or under each other.
Since then, two or three nightsand almost all
night long there has hardly baen any inter
mission in the thunder aid lightning, hardly
a few seconds passing between the dazzling
flashes of the latter, which seemed to play and
light up the entire vault of the sky till the
next fash came and repeated the condition.
Never in the many years Of our residence III
Georgetown have we experienced anything
like it. The City rainfall is, however, still
slightly under that of the corresponding pc
Rod last year, but in some of the country
districts the record is higher SO that should
ordinary weather for the rest Of the year
be eXper enced there is but lit le doubt that
the mean rainfall of the colony hen, tabu-
lated will be up to the total of 1892. dis
couraglng though such an outlook must ne
oeSsarilY be to those concerned i'll the agri-
cultural and other agrarian industries of the
colony. with a scarcity Of labour at enhanced
prices to look forward to between now aud
the end of December. AS to the storm Of
Saturday: strong gusts of wind occurred with
the heavier showers which caused some ia,
mage to trees. A Long john, 30 #. high
was hit by one of the gusts which came from
the opposite direction to which It's (the Long
John's) tension in resisting the prevailing
trade winds had been developed and Injured,
with the result that it snapped in two. about fiji
teen feet from the ground where the stem was
a little over a foot thick. These gusts were not
general, having only a narrow range of q few
hundred yards in their progress. though several
passed over different areas simultaneously or
in more or less succession, some, too. slightly
or greatly overlapping. The methods of
meteorological science include no appliances
for recording the decree of intensity and
continuity or of measuring the intervals. Of
quiesence in electrical storms, We have
seen sunsets of untold glory in many lands
and on many seas, but none ever rivaliod,
after the nightlong riotous turbulence of
thunder and lightning, the sky at sunrise
just before the sun reached the horizon, on
Tuesday morning. A Turner might have
painted it, but neAuman tongue could describe
its magnifcence and splendour. The Wes-
tern sky was pail-like i'll in uubroken gloom
at the time. The scene lasted in ever vary
ing shade. depth and intensity of colour