July 1st. Fine and clear; 8 A. M., cirrus in sheets, curls, wisps, and gauzy wreathes, with patches beneath of darker shade, all nearly motionless; close and warm (N.-E.); a long, low bank of haze in S., with one large cumulus in S.-W., but very distant.
July 2d. At 5 A. M., overcast generally with hazy clouds and fog of prismatic shades, chiefly greenish-yellow; 7 A. M., (S.-S.-E. freshening,) thick in W; 8 A. M., (S. fresh) much cirrus, thick and gloomy; 9 A. M., a clap of thunder, and clouds hurrying to N.; a reddish haze all around; at noon the margin of a line of yellowish-red cumuli just visible above a gloomy-looking bank of haze in N.-N.-W., (S. very fresh;) warm, 86°; more cumuli in N.-W.—the whole line of cumuli N. are separated from the clouds south by a clear space. These clouds are borne rapidly past the zenith, but never get into the clear space—they seem to melt or to be turned off N.-E. The cumuli in N. and N.-W., slowly spreading E. and S.; 3 P. M., the bank hidden by small cumuli; 4 P. M., very thick in north, magnificent cumuli visible sometimes through the breaks, and beyond them a dark, watery back-ground, (S. strong); 4.30 P. M., wind round to N.-W. in a severe squall; 5 P. M., heavy rain, with thunder, &c.—all this time there is a bright sky in the south visible through the rain 15° high; 7 P. M., clearing, (S.-W. mod.)
July 3d. Very fine and clear, (N.-W.); noon, a line of large cumuli in N., and dark lines of stratus below, the cumuli moving eastward; 6 P. M., their altitude 2° 40′. Velocity 1° per minute; 9 P. M., much lightning in the bank north.[17]
July 4th. 6 A. M., a line of small cumulo-stratus, extending east and west, with a clear horizon north and south 10° high. This band[18] seems to have been thrown off by the central yesterday, as it moves slowly south, preserving its parallelism, although the clouds composing it move eastward. Fine and cool all day—(N.-W. mod.)—Lightning in N.
July 5th. Cloudy (N. almost calm), thick in E., clear in W.; same all day.
6th. Fine and clear (E. light); small cumuli at noon; clear night.
7th. Warm (S. E. light); cirrus bank N. W.; noon (S.) thickening in N.; 6 P. M., hazy but fine; 8 P. M., lightning in N.; 10 P. M., the lightning shows a heavy line of cumuli along the northern horizon; calm and very dark and incessant lightning in N.
8th. Last night after midnight commencing raining, slowly and steadily, but leaving a line of lighter sky south; much lightning all night, but little thunder.
8th. 6 A. M. Very low scud (500 feet high) driving south, still calm below, (N. light); 10 A. M., clearing a little; a bank north with cirrus spreading south; same all day; 9 P. M., wind freshening (N. stormy); heavy cumuli visible in S.; 10.30 P. M., quite clear, but a dense watery haze obscuring the stars; 12 P. M., again overcast: much lightning in S. and N.-W.
9th. Last night (2 A. M. of 9th) squall from N.-W. very black; 4 A. M., still raining and blowing hard, the sky a perfect blaze, but very few flashes reach the ground; 7 A. M., raining hard; 8 A. M. (N.-W. strong); a constant roll of thunder; noon (N.-E.); 2 P. M. (N.); 4 P. M. clearing; 8 P. M., a line of heavy cumuli in S., but clear in N-W., N., and N.-E.[19]