348 The Meteorology of Whitehaven. 



Junt. — This is by far the hottest month in the last thirteen yeat? 

 and the mean temperature is probably higher than that of any June on 

 record. The mean temperature of the first twenty- two days is 66-°06 ; 

 the mean of the maximum being 74:-"54, and of the minimum 57*°59. 

 The mean temperature of the month is 5*^768 above the average. The 

 mean temperature of June 1842, which approaches the nearest to it, was 

 61°, or 3° under that of the past month. The thermometer has attained 

 to 80° and upwards, in two years only of the last thirteen ; viz., on the 

 80th and 31st July 1834, it rose to 82-°5 ; on the 1st and 2d of' August 

 in the same year, it attained to 81*°5 ; and on the 12th September 1841, 

 it reached 84°. On two days of this month the thermometer was at 

 80' 5 ; and on the 22d it rose to 83°. At Keswick and Cockermouth it 

 attained to 86"^ ; and at Carlisle to 87°. Notwithstanding the severity 

 of the heat and drought, the atmosphere has by no means been remark- 

 able in point of hygroscopic dryness ; the complement of the dew-point 

 being only '92, or barely 1°, above the average of the last four years. 

 The evaporation, which was greatly retarded by the motionless state of 

 the air, is 2'555 inches above the mean quantity. Had a brisk breeze 

 accompanied the heat, the evaporation would have been enormous. 

 Copious dews were deposited at night, during the first fortnight in the 

 month. 



July. — The mean is 1*°080 above the average, and the quantity of 

 rain is the greatest we have had in any month since January 1834. The 

 evaporation is '908, or 1 inch nearly, under the mean. 



On the afternoon of the 5th inst., this county was visited by a heavy 

 thunder storm, accompanied with hailstones of an almost incredible size. 

 At Cleator some of the hailstones measured f th of an inch in diameter, 

 or 2 inches round, nearly ten minutes after they had fallen. At Disting- 

 ton and Gilgarron some of them were 3 inches in circumference. In 

 Lamplugh, many of the hailstones v^^ere as large as an ordinary plumb, 

 and, on examination, were found to be invested with a thin covering of 

 snow, but within was a piece of ice, hare' and clear as crystal. In Bas- 

 senthwaite the hailstones are described as the size of an ordinary pigeon's 

 egg, and many of them not less than 3 or 4 inches in circumference. 

 Mr Harvey of the Pheasant Inn, Peel Wyke, had no less than 20 

 squares of glass broken in the windows of his house. When it is con- 

 sidered that the sky was overcast with clouds from an early hour in the 

 morning, I look upon this as by far the hottest day which has occurred 

 within my recollection. The maximum here was 84°, but had the atmo- 

 sphere been bright and clear, I quite think the thermometer would have 

 attained to 90°. At 1 p.m. the thermometer stood at 84°, and at 5 p.m. 

 at 63°, the temperature having fallen 21° in four hours. The fall of 

 rain between 2 p.m. of the 5th, and 2 p.m. of the 6th, was 2*672 inches. 

 A most extensive and destructive thunder storm occurred on the 5th July 

 1843, and there were extraordinary movements of the sea at Penzance, 

 on both occasions. Another awful storm occurred on the 29th. The 

 fall of rain in twenty-four hours at Whitehaven, was upwards of 2 inches. 

 The floods in Lamplugh and Ennerdale were greater than any remem- 

 bered by the oldest residents. 



August. — This is the warmest August in the last thirteen years, and 

 it» mean temperature exceeds the average of this period by 3'°63. The 



