The sharp thunderstorm of the morning of March 2 calls attention to the rather erratic behaviour of this meteorological phenomenon.. Whereas one usually associates thunder with warm weather, this on the contrary has come during a rather exceptionally cold spell. A casual examination. of the Siccawei records shows that this is noi, however, unprecedented. Thus on March 15, 1911, when the temperature averaged only about 45°, there was a storm at 6 p.m. with thunder and lightning. On that day the temperature was lower than it had been for several days before. ye The origin. of electrical storms is matter which is still not wholly cleared up, but in the main it appears to be an exceptional development of the normal process of cloud formation. As the water vaporized by the sun's heat is diffused through the general mass of the atmosphere, it eventually reaches a level at which it condenses into drops. This condensation is greatly facilitated by dust and by electrical charge. The latter it may first acquire in various ways (friction, radio activity, "electrical particles radiated from the sun, etc.) but, once acquired, the drops tend to grow and as their size increases the proportion of surface decreases and with it the electrical tension increases until either the drop is so large that it falls comparatively rapidly (as dew, rain, ete.) or as in the case of a thunderstorm, the electrical pressure is sufficient to make the charge jump from particle to par-tide and so to the earth.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.