Originally published on Photoblog by Gethin Thomas SEPTEMBER. 03, 2020
[29-365] 3rd September 2020- This is my second Storm Glass 365. In the first one I promised to do another one with crystal formations. So here it is.
The storm glass or chemical weather glass was an instrument which was proposed as a method for predicting weather. It consisted of a special liquid placed inside a sealed transparent glass. The state of crystallization within the liquid was believed to be related to the weather. The inventor is unknown but the device became popular in the 1860s after being promoted by Admiral Robert FitzRoy who claimed that "if fixed, undisturbed, in free air, not exposed to radiation, fire, or sun, but in the ordinary light of a well-ventilated room or outer air, the chemical mixture in a so-called storm-glass varies in character with the direction of the wind, not its force, specially (though it may so vary in appearance only) from another cause, electrical tension."
The compositions of the liquid in a storm glass varied but usually contained "camphor, nitrate of potassium and sal-ammoniac, dissolved by alcohol, with water and some air." These devices are now known to have little value in weather prediction but continue to be a curiosity.
And yet in this second example it correctly tells me that we have Cloudy Skies today. No snow as it is quite mild. So maybe it doesn't predict, but it does seem to reflect the current weather.
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