When meadows burn with budding May,
And heaven is blue.
Gosse
1812 An earthquake in Gloucestershire and South Wales. Chimneys were thrown down at Neath.
1923 A yellow ball of fire was seen during a severe thunderstorm in County Cork, Ireland. It fell slowly into a river. A few minutes later a second ball was seen.
1877 Huge hailstones killed thousands of sheep in Texas.
1761 A powerful tornado struck Charleston, South Carolina, and became a waterspout on the Rebellion-road. Five ships were sunk and 11 dismasted.
May 5
AD 840 Louis le Debonnaire, the son of Charlemagne, died of fright after a total eclipse of the Sun.
1006 The brightest supernova on record appeared in Centaurus. The Arab astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan said the 'sky was shining because of its light'.
1840 The worst pre-Civil War U.S. tornado disaster, when Natchez, Mississippi, was wrecked at 2 pm. 48 persons were killed in the city and 269 on the river.
1902 A nuee ardente blast from the volcano Mt. Pelee destroyed the town of St. Pierre in Martinique with the loss of 30,000 lives.
1867 A mysterious fall of fossilized hazelnuts at Dublin. They fell 'in great quantities and with great force.'
1879 Several large stony-iron meteorites and hundreds of nickel-iron fragments fell at Estherville, Iowa, after a detonating fireball.
AD 922 A red cloud like fire was seen over Bulgary. Noises and voices came from it, and armed men were seen in it.
1502 The latest date on which the cherry trees of Kyoto in Japan have flowered, in a record extending from AD 812 to 1864.
1915 Up to two inches (5 cm.) of snow fell after dark in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
1294 Heavy snow fell in the City of London. The equivalent date according to the Gregorian calendar would be May 25.
1137 A great wind prostrated many forests and churches in Ireland.
1808 The Sun turned red in Sweden, and a vast number of spherical bodies crossed the sky in a procession which lasted two hours.
1855 A pumiceous glassy object fell, accompanied by detonations, at Igast in Latvia. It weighed one ounce. (28 g.)
1910 The Earth is believed to have passed through the ion tail of Halley's Comet, causing a geomagnetic storm.
1780 New England 's famous . On Black Friday candles were lighted at noon in Providence. Soot-coloured rain fell.
1729 A powerful tornado caused great damage along a path 380 yards (347 m.) wide and 12 miles (19 km.) long, from Bexhill to the River Rother in Sussex. It touched down later in Kent.
1922 A maximum shade temperature of 91°F. (33° C.) at Camden Square, London
1851 Hailstones the size of pumpkins were reported to have fallen at Bangalore in India.
AD 905 A comet was observed from China whose tail extended across the heavens. 'The luminous envelope had an exceedingly angry appearance'.
1787 A tornado unroofed houses, uprooted trees and overturned carts, wagons and chaises at Wellington, Somerset.
1788 An aurora was seen in daylight at 11 am from Dublin, as whitish quivering rays ascending from all parts of the horizon.
1379 A number of stones fell at Hamburg, Germany.
1904 A singular intensely dark foggy gloom in London. Artificial lights were needed at mid-day. Unusual barometric oscillations were observed.
1881 About half a ton of periwinkles and a few seashore pebbles fell at Worcester before a thunderstorm.
1613 An enormous cloudburst lasting 11 hours occurred in Germany. It was remembered for a century under the name of the Thuringian Deluge.
1914 Lassen Peak in California began an eruption which culminated a year later with a lateral blast and an ash cloud six miles (10 km.) high.
1935 An earthquake at Quetta in India, of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale. 60,000 persons were killed.