Fair Weather For A Week

Fair Weather for a Week, with a Southern Wind, is like to
produce a great Drought, if there has been much Rain out of the
South before. The Wind usually turns from North to South, with a quiet
Wind without Rain, but returns to the North, with a strong Wind and
Rain; the strongest Winds are when it turns from South, to North by
West.

N. B. When the North Wind first clears the Air (which is usually
once a Week) be sure of a fair Day or two.

OBSERVATIONS of this Nature upon Winds have employed the ablest Heads
in all Ages. Pliny the great Naturalist has left us a great deal upon
this Subject, which plainly proves that it has been the Opinion of the
ablest and wisest Men that Study and Experience might reduce even
Things of such seeming Incertainty under stated Rules, and within the
Bounds of a regular System. For Instance he tells us.

"IN Africa the South Wind is serene, the North East cloudy.
All the Winds have their Turns. To judge rationally of their
Changes, the fourth Day of the Moon is to be regarded.--The South
Wind blows stronger than the North East, because the former rises
from the Bottom, whereas the latter comes from the Surface of the
Sea. It is for this Reason that those Earthquakes are most
dangerous that follow after a South Wind."

IN order to understand this Notion of Pliny, we need only advert
to the Account given us by the Reverend Mr. Robinson, in his
natural History of Westmoreland, which is exceedingly curious,
and well worthy of the Reader's perusal. This ingenious Gentleman is of
Opinion that Winds have their original from the Sea, of which he gives
the following very probable Account.

"IT, that is, the Wind, proceeds from vast swarms of nitrous
Particles arising from the Bottom of the Sea, which being put into
Motion, either by the central Fire, or by the Heat and Fermentation
which abound in this great Body of the Earth; and therefore the
first Commotion excited by the said Fermentation, we call a Bottom
Wind, which is presently discovered by Porpusses and other Sea
Fish, which delight in sporting and playing upon the Waves of the
Sea, and by their playing give the Mariners the first Notice of an
approaching Storm.

"WHEN these nitrous swarms are risen towards the Surface of the Sea
in a dark Night, they cause such a shining light upon the Waves, as
if the Sea was on fire. And being delivered from the brackish
Water, and received into the open Air, those fiery and shining
Meteors which fix upon the Masts and Sides of the Ships, and are
only nitrous particles condensed by the circumambient Cold, and
like that which the Chymists call Phosphorus, or artificial
Glow-worm, shine and cast a Light but have no Heat: This gives the
Mariners the second Notice that the Storm is rising, for upon the
first breaking out of the Wind, the Sea begins to be rough, and the
Waves swell and rise, when at the same time the Air is calm and
clear.

"THIS boiling Fermentation of the Sea causes the Vapours to rise,
which by the Intenseness of the circumambient Cold are condensed
into thick Clouds, and fall down in Storms of Wind and Rain, first
upon the Sea, from whence they rose, and then the attractive Power
of the Mountain-cold, by a secret Magnetism between Vapour and
Cold, attracts the waterish Vapours, intermixt with nitrous
Particles, to the high Tops of Mountains and Hills, where they hang
hovering in thick Fogs and waterish Mists, until the atmospherical
Heat rarefies the nitrous Part of the Fog (which is always
uppermost, and appears white and translucent) into brisk Gales of
Wind, and the Intenseness of atmospherical Cold having attracted
the Vapours into the colder Regions of the Air, where being
condensed into Clouds, the Wind breaks, dissipates, and drives them
before it, till they fall down in Rain, and water the Surface of
the Earth. And this seems to be the Reason why, in Egypt, and
those level Countries where they have no Mountains, they have
little Wind and less Rain."

Next: Clouds In Summer Or Harvent
Previous: If It Return To The South Within A Day Or Two Without Rain

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