GIANT HAILSTONES at NATAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 239, 8 October 1874, Page 2

GIANT HAILSTONES at NATAL.

A correspondent (in a letter from Pitermaritzburg) writes: — " About 245 yesterday afternoon I wa3 walking with a friend, when suddenly the win/ began to blow the dust about. At tHo same time I observed that tho S.W. -portion of the sky was filled with /an exceedingly black cloud, contracting upwards to a point. Presently a few, drops fell, then heavier ones, and then solitary lumps of ice. On the sighty/of theee we dasbed under an iron verandah, and none. too soou. A loud rushing Bbuhd J ____e from the south-west, and eventually hailstones, liberally mingled with great masses of ice of ver\-/ irregular forms, poured down with great violence. The hailstones wore seldom less than one inch in diameter ; the average was from one and a half to two inches in diameter. These were of very regular spherical form, and consisted of a nucleus of white snow, with an envelope of transparent ice. Of these masses I weighed a few with the following results : — Three weighed over Boz., and one ovor 4oz. The lost, which was the largest, I found myeelf, and was weighed some time after the storm was over. These below were weighed by others, but I saw some, and know the others are right from the persons who took tbe weights. One weighed 7j_oz. t one Boz., and one 6oz. This last was weighed fully fifteen minutes after tbe storm had ceased, aud bad suffered much from melting. It was an irregular mass, with projbetions all over it. The damage was enornlous. On many roofs half the tiles broken, not merely cracked, tyit very frequently the masses went right through into the houses. None have escaped. Fortunately for windows, there was no wind, or the damage would have been greater. Many of the corrugated iron roofs are dented all over, and have a pock-marked aspect, while some corrugated iron roofs are completely riddled; the stones wont right through, as though they had but paper to encounter. I have made a point of examining the iron roofs, and therefore can vouch for the above."