APRIL
Oh, hush my heart and take thine ease,
For here is April weather!
Reese
A meteorite fall at Chandpur, India, April 6, 1885. A 1.1 kg. stone was found.
April 1
1764 The shadow of an annular solar eclipse passed across eastern England. At Ipswich annularity lasted about 15 seconds. The temperature fell 17°. See here.
April 2
1845 Fizeau and Foucault obtained the first successful photograph of sunspots by the daguerreotype process. The photograph was taken from Paris.
April 3
AD 451 An aurora was seen from France. Red streamers like fire or blood appeared after sunset.
April 4
1216 The Melrose Chronicle gives an account of an extraordinary prodigy connected with the full Moon which was seen at Glenluce. It may have been a funnel cloud.
April 5
1804 A stone meteorite weighing 10 lbs. (4 kg.) fell at High Possil, Lanarkshire, after detonations.
April 6
1909 R. E. Peary became the first man to indisputably reach the North Pole at 6 pm. He sounded the sea beneath the ice to 9,850 feet (3,000 m.) with no bottom.
April 7
1420 The roses were already in bloom in southern France. They were all over by May 15th. Good cherries were on sale at the beginning of May.
April 8
1906 An enormous cloud of ash rose seven miles (11 km.) high above Vesuvius, in a Plinian blast which lasted throughout the hours of daylight. The crater lost 700 feet (213 m.) in height.
April 9
1947 A tornado travelled 220 miles (354 km.) from White Deer, Texas, through Oklahoma to St. Leo, Kansas. 167 persons died and 3,500 structures were damaged.
April 10
1668 Montanari's 'lost stars', two 2nd-magnitude stars in Argo which he first saw in 1664, disappeared without trace.
April 11
1925 A meteor leaving a trail of smoke was seen from Bleckenstadt in Sweden. Fragments of a white porous limestone were picked up.
April 12
1932 Eight volcanoes in the Andes were reported in eruption. Over 3,000 tons of volcanic debris fell on Buenos Aires.
April 13
1768 There was a remarkably low tide on the River Thames. The sandbanks on both sides of the bridge were dry and an oar might be grounded on the river bed.
April 14
1912 The liner Titanic, then the largest ship in the world, struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank next morning with the loss of over 1,500 lives.
April 15
1903 A waterspout crossed Lerwick harbour, Shetland, at great speed, causing considerable damage to shipping.
April 16
1949 A maximum temperature of 85°F. (29.4° C.) at Camden Square, London, the earliest recorded date.
April 17
1912 The central line of a total eclipse of the Sun missed Paris by 12 miles. (19 km.) Airmen saw the Moon's shadow, only one mile wide, sweeping over the countryside.
April 18
1772 The commandant of a castle in Sicily fired on a hailstorm to disperse it, but lightning from the cloud killed several gunners.
April 19
1849 A coach was buried in a snowdrift on Tilsey Hill, Surrey, and had to be left there all night.
April 20
1876 An 8 lbs. (3.5 kg.) iron meteorite fell at Rowton, Shropshire, after a rumbling noise and explosion. See here.
April 21
1908 Dr. Frederick A. Cook claimed that he arrived at the North Pole and stayed two days. He failed to convince official opinion.
April 22
1884 One of Britain's most powerful recorded earthquakes caused great damage in Essex at 9.18 am. The shock was felt from Exeter to Ostend.
April 23
1054 A tornado was seen at Rosdalla in Ireland as innumerable black 'birds' circling round a 'tower of fire'. This is the first recorded tornado in the British Isles.
April 24
1206 The Chronicle of Melrose says that a great quantity of snow, such as would not be credited by those who had not seen it, fell on this day.
April 25
1803 Three thousand meteorites fell at L'Aigle, France, after a detonating fireball. This event established the fact of meteorites. See here.
April 26
1884 A. A. Adams took the first known photograph of a tornado from Garnett, Kansas. The tornado was about 22 km. (14 miles) distant.
April 27
1775 The temperature reached 85° F. (29° C.) in southern England, and an 'odd halo' was seen round the Sun.
April 28
1866 The temperature at Grantham, Lincolnshire, fell from 65° F. (18° C.) at 10 am to 43° F. (6° C.) at 4 pm.
April 29
1009 In Germany the Sun was covered by a 'terrible coloured cloud'. It stayed covered for two days, regaining its light only on the third day.
April 30
1156 About noon, a broad blue circle appeared round the Sun for half an hour, according to Robert de Monte.
