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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2016
The weather of the English Channel and South East Coast of England, like that of other localities in the British Islands, is well known to be variable and subject to rapid changes which take place sometimes with little or no warning. These changes are in places complicated by such factors as the general contour of the cliffs, an abrupt fall of the land towards the south, and the effects of evaporation taking place continuously over the channel, and giving such a well defined local character to changes of wind as to mask temporarily the indications of an approaching disturbance.
Much, however, can be ascertained by the study of the local cloud formation, wind structure, type of barometric curve, and temperature variation, and the following discussion of certain aspects of Channel meteorology is intended to explain the commoner variations of weather which occur in that area. The meteorological peculiarities of the Channel may be conveniently studied under the six separate headings of atmospheric depressions (primary and secondary), winds, mist and fog, thunderstorms, squalls and gales.
page 29 note * A squall of wind, accompanied by rain or hail, associated with a sudden drop of temperature and the passage of a long line or arch of dark cloud. The cloud appears to be due to convection between the cold westerly currents and a warmer southerly current; the squall is therefore probably katabatic in its origin, and its violence on the actual passing of the cloud accounted for in that way; it represents the dash forward of a breaking wave, or, more strictly speaking, of the water of a broken wave. .(See Section 5 of this article.)