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It happened today in

April

Oh, hush my heart and take thine ease,

For here is April weather!

Reese


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(?.

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.

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  A 7 lbs. (3.5 kg.) iron meteorite fell at Rowton, Shropshire, after a rumbling noise and explosion.

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.

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.


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