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New England Weather

1769 Summer

Signs of the Times 18th Century Society The American Revolution Apple Butter Making Architectural Styles Church Customs The Conestoga Wagon The Cooper Coverlets Foursquare Gardens Gunter's Chain The Long S New England Weather Tanning

Chapters Overview 1635 Great Storm 1638 Earthquake The Earthquake of 1663 The Comet of 1664 1667 Strange Appearance 1676 Storm and Shipwreck The Comet of 1680 1682 Strange Appearance Dark Day of 1716 1716-1717 Winter 1718 Wreck of the Whidah 1719 Aurora Borealis Storm of 1722-23 1727 Earthquake 1740-1 Winter 1744 Earthquake 1747-48 Winter 1748 Hurricane 1749 Drought 1755 Great Earthquake 1759 Hurricane 1762 Drought 1768 Lightning 1768 Gale 1769 Summer 1770 Great Freshet 1770 Summer The Storm of October 20, 1770 Summer of 1771 1773 Hurricane The Storm of 1774 The Dark Day of 1780 1782 Hurricane 1785 Great Freshet 1786 Tornado 1786 Snow Storms The Cyclone of 1787 The Meteor of 1787 1788 Gale 1794 Whirlwind The Long Storm of 1798 1799 Hail Storm 1801 Freshet 1802 Great Snow Storm 1804 Storm 1806 Solar Eclipse The Freshet of 1807 The Meteorite of 1807 The Cold Friday of 1810 The Freshet of 1814 The Tornado in 1814 The Gale of 1815 The Cold Summer of 1816 The Tornadoes of 1821 Spring Freshet of 1823 The Spring Freshet of 1826 1826 Avalanche 1827 Gale and Freshet 1827 Wreck of the Almira1830 March Storm The Great Freshet of 1830 1833 Meteoric Display Winter of 1835-36 1839 Storms 1841 October Gale 1842 Snow Storm The Freshet of 1846 1849 October Storm 1851 Lighthouse Storm 1851 Tornado Storm of April, 1852

1768 Gale

1770 Great Freshet

THE summer of 1769 opened with hot weather, the thermometer at Salem, Mass., May 10, registering eighty-four and a half degrees above zero out of doors in the shade. The next day it rapidly grew colder, and in the evening there came on a snow storm, which continued twelve hours, the snow falling to the depth of six inches. For several succeeding weeks the weather continued cloudy, closing abruptly with a severe frost on June 2. The next day was very fair and pleasant, especially at Boston, and afforded a fine opportunity for viewing the rare transit of Venus which then occurred. The next day it was extremely hot again, and toward the end of the month near Boston the thermometer in open air and deep shade at three o'clock in the afternoon showed the temperature to be ninety-nine and one-half degrees above zero, which was three degrees higher than the same glass had ever indicated before at that place, though it had been in use for several years. That was the hottest day that had been known for a long period.

A week later, on the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, July 5, at Northampton, Mass., occurred the severest shower of rain with thunder and lightning that had visited that place for a long period. For several hours it rained so hard that the meadows were covered with water to the depth of from three to four feet. A great deal of hay was carried off by the flood. The lightning also did some damage. It struck the chimney of the residence of Deacon Hunt, and ran down to the lower floor, where two of his children, one about fourteen and the other about seven years old, were standing. Both of them were instantly killed, but the house was only slightly damaged.

At about six minutes before seven o'clock on the evening of July 13, there was a slight earthquake, and on the evening of the nineteenth the northern lights were very beautiful, being more extensive a brighter than usual.

On Monday forenoon, July 31, there was a terrible shower of hail and rain, with thunder and lightning, which extended over a wide territory in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The hail was of large size, and in some parts of Scituate, Mass., it lay on the ground for thirty hours, being the next day at noon nearly a foot deep in several places. It broke nearly all the windows that were exposed to the wind, and did much damage to fruit orchards, grass, tobacco, corn, rye, etc., one man in West Greenwich, R. I., having twenty acres of Indian corn totally destroyed. At Newport, R. I., the hail-stones were said to have been as large as musket balls, at West Greenwich, the size of pullets' eggs; and some of those that fell at Scituate, Mass., as large as goose eggs. The shower evidently began in the neighborhood of Danvers, Mass., and proceeded in a southerly direction. At that place, the lightning struck a tree, and killed an ox and a cow that were standing near it; and in another part of the town a child was knocked down, but was not much injured. Proceeding to Charlestown, the lightning struck and slightly damaged three houses, one of which belonged to Richard Gary, Esq. The kitchen chimney was struck, and the electric fluid came down into the kitchen, knocking a negro woman from the hearth to the middle of the room where she found herself when her senses returned a short time afterward. The lightning divided and took different courses through several rooms, proceeding upward and going out at a chamber window. In Boston, the kitchen chimney of the house of Capt. Job Prince at the west end of the town was struck by the lightning, which came down as far as the cross bar, and exploded, knocking a negro woman down. She remained senseless for half an hour and then recovered. Two vessels lying at Hancock's wharf were struck, each of them having a mast so split that it had to be replaced by a new one. Three men at work in the hold of one of the vessels were stunned, and it was some time before they recovered. The shower next proceeded in a southwest direction to the parish of Brookline, where the hail shattered many windows, among them those in the house of Rev. Mr. Whitney. At Wrentham, sixteen sheep were killed by the lightning. The shower then took a course nearly east, and was next heard from at Scituate, where much damage was done by the hail. The shower was about three-fourths of a mile wide as it passed over the town, in a southerly direction. At Abington, a barn was struck and burned together with a quantity of hay. At Middleboro, eight trees within eighty rods of each other were struck. The shower then continued in a southwesterly direction, and we hear no more from it until it had crossed the line into Rhode Island, at Middletown, where the lightning killed a cow. The shower reached Newport just before ten o'clock, having travelled very fast through Massachusetts. Here, much damage was done by the hail. At Jamestown, a stack of hay was burned, having been set on fire by the lightning. The force of the shower seemed now to be nearly spent, and it wandered away in a northwesterly direction to West Greenwich. Early in the afternoon it crossed the Connecticut line, and was last heard from at Windham, where the lightning struck three horses, which were under a tree, one of them being killed. The electric current ran about four rods from the foot of the tree, and entered a house under a door, which was shut. All the damage it did was to bum the foot of a young woman, and also of a lad.

Another shower occurred on Sunday evening, August 6, at Taunton, Mass., when the lightning struck the house of Ebenezer Dean, whom it killed. - At Norton, four sheep were killed, and at Assonet, a man was killed in his house. His wife was milking a cow by the door, and both the cow and herself were considerably stunned by the same shock.

At Hartford, Conn., at about two o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, August 15, a very heavy shower came up, and the rain poured down in torrents, being attended with heavy and loud claps of thunder. During the shower the residence of Jacob Seymour was struck by lightning, but no person was hurt. The rain continued to pour for several hours, and low lands were flooded to such an extent that it was estimated that more than a hundred tons of hay were swept off by the water. An interesting and well attested incident of this shower was that of finding in the street after it was over great numbers of living animals, two or three inches in length, resembling fish, but not like any variety known in that part of the country. The street had been dry and hard before the shower, and these little fish must have descended in the rain, but from what section they came, we believe, has never been learned. During the same shower a bam in Simsbury belonging to a Mr. Cass was struck by lightning, set on fire, and totally destroyed with its contents.

During this summer the barn of Samuel Plummer, situated in that part of Rowley which has since been incorporated as the town of Georgetown, was set on fire by lightning, and with its contents was wholly consumed.

In August and September, the appearance of a comet contrary to the calculations of astronomers troubled the people to some extent, and the newspapers of that time contained many articles relating to it.

On September 8, occurred a violent northeast rain-storm, which caused several vessels to be driven ashore in Massachusetts Bay.

Source: Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, 1891

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