S46 The Meteorology of Whitehaven. 



Remarks on the Climate 0/ 1846. 



However great may be the fluctuations of temperature in the same 

 months and seasons — however sultry the summer, or cold the winter, in 

 any particular year, its mean temperature varies but little from the cli- 

 matic, or average actual mean of the locality, when once correctly ascer- 

 tained ; and, even the greatest variation between one year, and any 

 other the most opposite in character, and extending over a long period of 

 time, when accurately expressed in figures, appears so trivial, that except 

 to the meteorologist, it fails to convey any adequate idea of the excess or 

 deficiency of heat, or of the absolute difference in temperature between 

 the periods in question. 



The years 1845 and 1846 present the opposite extremes of the mean 

 temperature of this place ; for, whilst 1845 is t'le coldest, its successor is 

 the warmest of the last fourteen years. And, should the register be con- 

 tinued till half a century is completed, it is probable that the difference 

 between the coldest and the mildest year in that period, will not greatly 

 exceed the variation in temperature between the years 1845 and 1846, 

 viz., 3*°36, or 3^ degrees per diem nearly. The mean temperature is 

 2'°17 above the average of the preceding thirteen years. This great in- 

 crease is not solely occasioned by the excessive heat of the summer, for 

 every month (December excepted) is considerably above the average 

 temperature, as may be gathered from the following monthly remarks : — 



January. — The mildest January on record at this place, except that 

 of 1834, which exceeded it | of a degree. The mean temperature is 

 5.°044 above the average, and on one night only has the thermometer 

 descended to the freezing point. The complement of the dew-point is 

 1"°72 under the mean for January, and there has been no month in the 

 last four years at all approaching to it in dampness, the point of satura- 

 tion being only 1*48 below the simultaneous temperature of the air. 



Among the many, wonders of the season, a robin's nest, containing 

 four eggs, is said to have been found near Warwick, Carlisle, towards 

 the latter end of the month. 



February. — The mildest and dampest February since I have kept a 

 record, the years 1833 and 1834 approaching the nearest to it in temp- 

 erature. The mean temperature is 4*^91 above the average, and the com- 

 plement of the dew-point is less than in any other month of the past 

 four years, except in January last. The atmosphere has been very un- 

 favourable for free radiation of heat, both in January and February, 

 there being scarcely an entirely clear night in either month. 



On the 12th, perfectly formed gooseberries were gathered in this vi- 

 cinity ; and on the 13th, a tortoise-shell butterfly was caught at Keswick. 

 On the 16th, I find the following entry in my register : — " The bees in 

 our garden were this day actually bearing burdens, a circumstance pro- 

 bably without a parallel in the annals of the apiary. Bees were also 

 noticed at work to-day at Lamplugh. There are now quantities of 

 primroses to be found blooming on sheltered banks, and under warm 

 hedgerows. This morning, 15th, I gathered fifteen healthy full-bloom 

 flowers from a single primrose plant, in one of the lanes leading to En- 



