SUMMER STORMS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TUE "SPECTATOR.") SIB,—Will you kindly allow me to add my quota to your very interesting article on the remarkable storm of Saturday, July 29th? The spot from which I write is far removed from your writer's point of observation, being situated on the south- west border of Gloucestershire and within a stone's throw of Somerset. It was a day of intense heat, the thermometer on the screen registering 94°, which is by far the highest temper- ature I have ever recorded here, and is altogether exceptional at a place so much under tidal influence. We had warning that something unusual was about to happen by great darkness, which came over the entire sky about half an hour before the storm, the clouds rolling up with a straight black edge which might have been done by a ruler, so regular was it.
Suddenly a distant roar was heard, rapidly increasing in volume, and in a minute or two the wind was upon us ; strong timber trees were bent like whips and bedding plants laid level with the ground. Several flower shows were being held in the neighbourhood, and in every case tents and marquees were at once overturned; the already dried leaves fell from the trees in an avalanche. Fortunately the wind was from the south-west, and so the trees were able to bend to the storm without breaking. Two miles from here the southern part of the city of Bristol was visited by a deluge of sea-sand which, from the direction of the wind, had come at least sixteen
am, Sir, &c., HUGH L. P. LowE. ,Blagdon House, Stoke Bishop.
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