It's easy to make a storm glass – just mix the chemicals and watch crystals form and disappear. But there might be a scientific basis to its supposed powers
FOR 19th-century mariners, forecasting the weather was a matter of life and death. With few facts to go on, folklore held sway: spouting whales, porpoises entering a harbour, or even lone crows, were all thought to warn of impending storms. Yet vice-admiral Robert Fitzroy of the British Royal Navy knew better.
Captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's voyage in the 1830s, Fitzroy went on to found the UK's Meteorological Office. By collating data from barometers around the British Isles, he created the world's first weather maps and finally put forecasting on a scientific footing. He even penned a bestseller to explain his ideas: The Weather Book: A manual of practical meteorology. Less well-known is his conviction that he could ...
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