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AND METEOROLOGY OF THE YEAR R'ELATIYE THERETO. 606 



December, 7°o ; and in 1878, December, 8°-2. The great and 

 unprecedented cold of January 1881 was felt in a very unequal 

 degree over Scotland, being much less in the north and v^'est than 

 in the south and east, and on the coast than in inland situations. 

 Thus the deficiency was 2^-5 at North Unst, 3°'0 at Cape Wrath, 

 4°-6 in the south of Cantyre, and 6°'0 at the Mull of Gallow^ay ; 

 whereas at Inverness it was 9°"7, at Aberdeen 8°*6, at Glasgov/ 

 and Dalkeith 10°-:3, at Lanark ll°-7, at Milne Graden 12°-1, and 

 at Stobo Castle 13°*4. In Shetland, Orkney, and in the extreme 

 north of Caithness and Sutherland colder months have occurred 

 than January 1881, — January 1867 having been on the whole 

 colder in the northern regions, but elsewhere over Scotland 

 January 1881 was absolutely the coldest month. The mean 

 temperature was lower than any previously recorded month in 

 varied amounts up to 4'''0 ; this excessive degree of cold being 

 experienced chiefly in the upper narrow valleys of the interior 

 of the country, such as Lairg in Sutherland, Upper Deeside and 

 Tweeddale, and the uplying valleys of the Cheviots. The greatest 

 absolute cold occurred generally during the night immediately 

 preceding the great snow storm of London and the south of 

 England on the 18th. The lowest temperatures were — 16°"0 at 

 Springwood Park, near Kelso ; — 15°-0 at Stobo Castle ; — 13°'0 at 

 Paxton House, near Berwick, and— 11 """O at Lairg and Thirlestane 

 Castle. These excessively low temperatures were all but identical 

 with those which occurred in the same districts during the 

 memorable frost of December 4, 1379, and on both occasions 

 great and unexampled damage was done to our forest trees. 

 This temperature reading of— 16^'0 observed at Springwood Park 

 in December 1879, and again in January 1881, is absolutely the 

 lovrest hitherto observed anywhere in the British Islands, with 

 a properly protected verified instrument. 



The rainfall of the month was everywhere under the average, 

 nearly the whole of which fell in the form of snow ; and though 

 in many places railways were blocked and buried under the 

 snow-drifts,'yet nowhere was the snow so deep that when melted 

 did the water equal the average rainfall of January for the 

 locality. The heaviest falls occurred in East Lothian, Berwick- 

 shire, and lioxburghshire ; but in the south and west, and in 

 inland situations, except a few isolated districts, such as the 

 Pentland Hills and Douglas Castle, the aqueous precipitation 

 only amounted to from 5 to 25 per cent, of the average rainfall 

 of the month. 



FEiUiUAUY. — This month, though not in the same dcgi'ee as 

 January, w'as also exceptionally cold. The mean temperature 

 was 4°*6 below the average of February, and during the past 

 118 years there have been only eight colder Februarys. The 

 distribution of this cold was unusually uniform, the deficiency 



7. 



