318 Meteorological Observations J or February 1828. 



Summary of the Weather. 



A clear sky, 2; fine, with various modifications of clouds, 9£ j an over- 

 cast" sky without rain, 12| ; foggy $ ; rain, 4^.— Total 29 days. 



Clouds. 



Cirrus. Cirrocumulus. Cirrostratus. Stratus. Cumulus. Cumulostr. Nimbus 



14 8 29 1 10 17 20 



Scale of the prevailing Winds. 



N. N.E. E. S.E. S. S.W. W. N.W. Days. 

 5 21726 4 2 29 



General Observations. — This month has been calm and generally mild, 

 and although it has rained more or less on seventeen different days, yet the 

 amount at the ground is very little more than one and a half inch in depth ; 

 therefore it has generally been light. 



From the 10th to the 18th instant, the weather was rather cold • and on 

 the 11th and 12th, sleet and granulous snow fell. In the morning of the 

 14th it snowed three hours, and the depth was about 2£ inches, which dis- 

 solved in this neighbourhood in two hours with a temperature from 37 to 

 41 degrees in the shade. In the evening of that day about 20 minutes 

 before 7 o'clock, a very large meteor, in the form of a cone on its side, 

 passed over towards the S.E. It appeared very low, perhaps not above 

 200 feet from the ground : its light was glaring for five or six seconds of 

 time, and nearly the colour of the moon's reflected light, and its train 

 sparkling. It passed through an apparent space of about 60 degrees before 

 it disappeared behind some houses, and was seen by many persons in the 

 town and vicinity. 



In the evening of the 15th, a short time before Venus set, a mild light 

 reflected in the atmosphere from that planet eastward, was distinctly traced 

 to the first star of Aries y marked y, a distance at that time of 34 degrees. 



The maximum temperature of the external air occurred in the nights of 

 the 3rd, 13th, and 24th. The maximum temperature of the present month 

 is remarkable, it being four degrees higher than in any February for the 

 last twelve years. It occurred on the 26th, and appeared to have been in- 

 fluenced after light rain, by two warm winds crossing at right angles from 

 the S.E. and S.W., and a dense body of cumulostratus clouds with some at- 

 tenuated parts, sufficient to admit the calorific rays to the earth's surface, 

 which acted powerfully on the exterior thermometer. The mean tempe- 

 rature of the month is very high for the season. Much has been said in 

 conversation on the mildness of the last winter, viz. December, January, 

 and February, which in this latitude are understood and very generally 

 taken as the three winter months ; and it certainly has been the mildest 

 during the last thirteen years. The mean temperature of these months for 

 the last thirteen years, is 41*38 degrees ; and for the last three months 46*16 

 degrees; therefore, the mean of the last winter is 4f degrees higher than 

 the mean of that period. The next mildest winter occurred in the years 

 1821-2, the mean temperature of which was 45*56 degrees, that is three- 

 fifths of a degree lower than the mean of the last winter. The spring has 

 commenced, and the trees are progressively breaking into buds. 



The atmospheric and meteoric phcenomena that have come within our 

 observations this month, are one lunar and two solar halos, two meteors, 

 one rainbow, and two gales of wind, one from the South-east, the other 

 from South-west. 



REMARKS. 



