TYPE XX.—THE ADVENT OF AN ANTARCTIC STORM.
This is a type of weather that does not often visit Australia but its severity makes it noteworthy for the winds and weather which come with it are very destructive, and the cold severe, it might almost be called a southern blizzard; yet the warning is short and often difficult to read, for it comes from the Antarctic where we have no out stations.
The storm under consideration began to affect the south coast of Australia, making the winds fresh to strong on June 21st, 1892, (Chart 39), yet the season (winter) and the general conditions pointed to westerly winds, and said nothing definite of the storm which was telegraphed on the morning of June 22nd, (Chart 40). Barometers were then seen to be four-tenths lower in Tasmania than they were on the 21st, and the wind had increased to a furious gale along the south coast of South Australia and Victoria, and the isobars indicate a very steep grade commensurate with the wind. On shore also the wind rose in places to hurricane force; at Ballarat, in western Victoria, buildings were unroofed and trees blown down. So severe was it there that the storm is recorded as the Ballarat storm.
