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HALIFAX DISASTER RECORD OFFICE
CHRONICLE BUILDING

HALIFAX, N. S.
December 18, 1917.
JOURNAL

THE WEATHER ORDEAL.

The day of the explosion, Thursday, December sixth, was clear, calm and not cold for this time of year. Everything was as quiet as if the City, in common with nature, were holding its breath for the terrific explosion that followed, and since that dread day there has been little peace for anybody in any way. One storm has followed another in quick succession, beginning with Friday of week before last.
The first real blizzard of the season started in shortly before noon on Friday the seventh and long before night the streets were almost impassable. Snow was nearly knee deep and the wind blew at the rate of 45 miles an hour. All sorts of transportation was hampered and considerable suffering ensued. By Saturday morning the weather had calmed down; although the atmosphere had a somewhat sullen quality, the wind was not high. By evening it had begun to rise again and between Saturday midnight and Sunday noon there was a terrific fall of rain and the wind blew twenty-one miles an hour. The general impression was that the wind blew much harder than that possibly because nerves were at such high tension that everything assumed alarming proportions. The rainfall, however, was heavy and many cellars were flooded, owing to the deep snow on the ground before the rain came.
The velocity of the wind thereafter varied from nineteen to twenty-nine miles an hour, but no storms raged until towards morning on Friday week. Then the elements broke forth as if their fury had simply been held in leash until sufficient momentum had been gathered to create a terrifying effect. Rain fell in torrents, and the wind, just to show that its previous efforts were not its maximum, blew at the rate of 45 to 50 miles an hour. Nervous people whose houses were doubtfully safe