306 The Meteorology of Whitehaven. 



Remarks on the Weather of 1845. 



The epidemic which has this year prevailed to such an alarming ex- 

 tent among the potato crops throughout this country, has engaged the 

 attention of some of the first chemists and most celebrated philosophers 

 of the day ; and meteorologists have been called upon to ransack their 

 journals, in order to discover whether there have been any peculiar at- 

 mospheric conditions in the year 1845, adequate to account for the induc- 

 tion of this fearful national calamity. 



On looking over my journal for the past year, I find that there has been 

 no particular deviation from the mean, either in the atmospheric pres- 

 sure, the temperature of the dew-point, the amount of the evaporation, 

 or the fall of rain. But there is a very remarkable aberration from the 

 average in the temperature, which^ in almost every month, has been be- 

 low the mean. 



The year 1845, has been the coldest of the last twelve years, except 

 1838, and is 1°.559 under the mean annual temperature of this place. 

 The mildest year of the last thirteen, was 1834, its mean temperature 

 being 50°.517. As the low temperature of 1845 constitutes its most ob- 

 vious and almost sole peculiarity, we shall proceed to examine the cha- 

 racter of each month in detail, and to compare them with the corre- 

 sponding months of the year 1842, which, in many respects, was the very 

 opposite of 1845, being remarkably fine, clear, and dry ; memorable for 

 its abundant crops, and the luxuriance of the whole vegetable kingdom. 



Jannani. — The mean temperature is .853, or rather more than three- 

 quarters of a degree under the mean. Heavy rains and snow, alterna- 

 ting with occasional frosty nights. On the nights of the 30th and 31st, the 

 thermometer fell to 16°.5, and the pin of a self- registering thermometer, 

 on a grass-plot, descended to the end of the scale (8°). On the same 

 nights, the thermometer at Wigton, fell to 9°, at Carlisle, to 3'', Apple- 

 garth, to 7°, Kendal, to 12°, Withington, near Manchester, to minus 2^^, 

 and at Oakfield, near Manchester, to 4°, 5 below zero, being 21° lower 

 than the minimum at Whitehaven. 



On the following morning, about half-past nine o'clock, a singularly 

 interesting spectacle presented itself, in an immense flock of wild geese, 

 estimated at 500 in number, which passed over the centre of the town, 

 in a south westerly direction. A clear sky, and an unclouded sun, re- 

 flecting the silvery hue of their plumage, added to the beautiful appear- 

 ance of this monster flock in its aerial flight, f A remarkably dense fog on 

 New Year's day. On the evening of the 9th, about 9'^ 15'", I noticed a 

 luminous arch of white light in the NW., interspersed with plumose 

 Cirri, resembling smoke, extending from the horizon to an altitude of 15° 

 or 20°. Soon after, another arch formed two or three degrees above the 

 first ; this was rather faint, and soon disappeared. At half-past nine, a 

 rare and singularly beautiful phenomenon was presented to the eye. A 

 well-defined arch, passing about 10° south of the zenith, begirt the 

 heavens, from E. to WSW., commencing and terminating in the hori- 

 zon ; and. simultaneously, another perfect arch was projected to the 

 north of the zenith, rising to altitude about 50°, and coalescing with the 

 former at both extremities. The breadth of these arches was not uni- 

 form, being greatest towards the middle. They continued perfect for a 

 few minutes only, and at 9'' 40'", they had entirely disappeared. Very 

 few streamers attended the phenomenon. The arches were visible for 

 so short a period, that I had no opportunity of taking the altitudes with 

 an instrument ; they are, consequently, mere estimations, and probably 

 far from the truth. 



Ffhrnary, — The coldest February I have recorded, excepting the cor- 

 responding month of 1841 ; mean temperature, 4°.627 under the average, 



