Climate of Whitehaven. 63 



what resembled an auroral arch. I first noticed this blue arch about 

 3 P.M., and from that time until it disappeared, about six o'clock, 

 there was not the slightest apparent change, either in its altitude or 

 position. It was observed as early as 7 o'clock in the morning, 

 when it was nearer to the horizon. 



General Remarks. — The year 1849 is the driest we have had 

 since 1844; the fall of rain (39 inches) is 7*9 inches under the 

 average annual depth, which is 47 inches nearly. From some 

 cause, the annual quantity of rain at this place is evidently on the 

 decrease, and the diminution is, I believe, general all over the north 

 of England. Probably the large amount of moor and waste marshy 

 land brought into cultivation of late years, and the more efficient 

 drainage of the country generally, by diminishing the evaporating 

 surface, and so interfering with that invisible process of nature which 

 is the source of every kind of atmospheric deposition, may have led to 

 this and other changes which appear to have occurred in the climate 

 of England within the last half century. In the first seven years 

 (1833-39) after I began to keep a meteorological record, the average 

 annual depth of rain was 49-93 inches, or 50 inches nearly ; in the 

 last seven years, ending with 1848, the average is reduced to 43*74 

 inches. The greatest quantity in the last 17 years is 59 inches, in 

 1836 ; the least, 34-69 inches in 1842. The three driest years in the 

 period are 1842, 1844, and 1849, which yielded 34-69 inches, 36-72 

 inches, and 39 inches. 



The temperature of the past year (48°- 69) is about half a degree 

 helow the climatic mean, which is 49 -02. The coldest year of the 

 last 17 was 1845, and the mildest, 1846 ; the mean temperatures 

 of these years were 47°-49 and 50°- 85 respectively. 



The naked thermometer on the grass, placed on raw wool, has 

 been at or below the freezing point in every month of 1849 ; viz., 

 in January, on 19 nights; in February, on 14; in March, on 

 13; in April, on 18; in May, on 11; in June, on 8; in 

 July, on 1 ; in August, on 2 ; in September, on 5 ; in October, 

 on 16 ; in November, on 13; and in December, on 24 nights. 

 The amount of radiant heat thrown oif from the earth's crust 

 at night, in the year 1849, as indicated by naked thermometers 

 placed on raw wool and on grass, is much greater than usual. The 

 evaporation exceeds the fall of rain in five months of 1849 ; viz., in 

 March, April, May, June, and September. In 1849, we have had 

 12 perfectly clear days ; 163 days more or less cloudy but without 

 rain; 190 wet days; 261 days on which the sun shone out; 33 

 days of frost ; 13 of hail ; 7 of snow ; 10 of thunder and lightning; 

 and 7 days in which lightning occurred without thunder. There 

 have also been three lunar halos, one lunar rainbow, a double parhe- 

 lion, and seven appearances of the aurora borealis. 



The clear days are 14, the days of sunshine are 13, and the wet 

 days are 8 less than the average number. The past year has there- 



