NOVEMBER
Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.
Coleridge
The steamer Arizona strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic, November 7, 1879. The ship withdrew safely and returned to Newfoundland
November 1
1755 Three major earthquake shocks, a seismic sea wave and fire wrecked the city of Lisbon in Portugal. At least 40,000 persons were killed. See here.
November 2
1819 Red rain fell in Holland. 'No sand was found'.
November 3
1825 A cloud of fire traversed the sky from north to south during a thunderstorm at Calenhoven forest, France.
November 4
1799 An earthquake at Cumana in Venezuela was preceded by thunder and lightning. Drops of electrified rain fell.
November 5
1938 A temperature of 70° F. (21° C.) was recorded at Cambridge, also at Tottenham and various other places in London.
November 6
1916 Streaks of fiery light appeared above gun-flashes on the Western Front as light was reflected and refracted in a cloud of minute ice crystals.
November 7
1932 Mt. Kilchenstock, the 'Moving Mountain' of Switzerland, shook 30,000 cubic metres of rock and earth from its summit.
November 8
1923 The ship SS Canada saw two meteors appear to collide, 53° 24' N., 50° 44' W.
November 9
1852 An earthquake was felt in northern England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Damage was caused at a few places in Ireland.
November 10
1810 Boston in Lincolnshire was flooded after an ENE gale, continuous rain and a high tide.
November 11
AD 577 Gregory of Tours saw "a bright star…shining in the very centre of the Moon". The Moon was full, with a halo.
November 12
1887 At midnight off Cape Race, a huge ball of fire rose slowly from the sea. After five minutes it rushed away through the sky to the south-east.
November 13
1833 A great Leonid meteor storm, when 240,000 meteors were seen in 9 hours from Boston.
November 14
1901 Lumps of ice one pound in weight fell during a tornado in Victoria, Australia.
November 15
1802 The earliest recorded snow cover in Tokyo, in a record extending from 1632 to 1955.
November 16
1492 A 200 lbs. (90 kg.) meteorite fell at Eisenheim, Alsace, after detonations.
November 17
1882 During an aurora, a luminous green torpedo-shaped body crossed the sky at Greenwich. It was an 'auroral meteor', which broke up later.
November 18
1929 The Grand Banks submarine earthquake triggered a 'seaslide' 230 miles (322 km.) wide, which flowed 400 miles (644 km.) and cut 12 submarine cables.
November 19
1829 Many small stones, with a red crystalline surface and smelling of sulphur and phosphorus, fell on Prague.
November 20
1844 A very large meteor brighter than the Moon was seen from Laysac in France, moving east to west. Great and numerous detonations were heard.
November 21
1911 End of 112 hours 10 minutes continuous sunshine record, Cape Evans, Antarctica. Began on November 16.
November 22
1772 One of the Needles chalk stacks, at the western tip of the Isle of Wight, collapsed during a gale.
November 23
1842 Mount St. Helens, Oregon, erupted. Pumice fell on Dalles, 30 miles (48 km.) south-east.
November 24
1639 Jeremiah Horrocks of Cheshire became the first person to observe a transit of Venus. See here.
November 25
1907 A tornado near Deal in Kent carried a haystack out to sea.
November 26
1703 Possibly the greatest storm in British history swept across southern England. 8,000 people were killed, mostly at sea. 17,000 trees were blown down in Kent.
November 27
1921 All traffic was halted in London by a fog which lasted four days.
November 28
1930 After a sandstorm in Morocco, mud rain fell in Paris and all over northern France. Yellow sand fell in Spain.
November 29
1905 Sir David Gill observed a fireball for five minutes until it vanished into a hazy sky. Another observer said it was visible for two hours.
November 30
1872 A brilliant meteor exploded over St. Thomas, West Indies, into numerous 'stars'. A rumbling noise followed and some ashes fell.
