34 



the sea that gives forth heat to the air. Altogether it is surprising 

 how little difference there is between the winter and summer tem- 

 perature of the Færoes — so httle, that only a few piaces similarly 

 situated from a geographical point of view can compete with them 

 in this respect, viz. Shetland and the west coast of Ireland, but 

 not even the south coast of Iceland or the west coast of Norway 

 (see tab. p. 33). 



On a closer study of the figures for each month, given in the 

 table, it is impossible not to be struck by the length and coldness 

 of the spring; thus, the month of March is as cold as January, or 

 in other words, winter lasts through the whole of March. April also 

 is rather cold and only in May does the temperature begin to rise 

 in real earnest, continuing to do so until July-August, the two 

 warmest months ; but these two — the summer proper — are after 

 all not so very hot, their temperature being 10^8 and 10*^7. There 

 is then a gradual fall through September, October and November 

 till the winter temperature is reached in December. Thus we see 

 that the autumn is rather long, and compared with the summer 

 fairly warm, and this is even more the case with regard to the 

 winter, as the mean temperature does not in any month fall to 3^* 

 or below it, and consequently there is no frost worth speaking of 

 Altogether there are only 69 days of frost annually (i. e. periods 

 of 24 hours in which the temperature has for a time been below 0°), 

 and of these, 47 occur in the four winter months, December-March. 

 Moreover, the strength of the frost is not great, as is seen from the 

 faet that the actual lowest temperature during 25 years has been 

 ->- 1 1 '^ 6, and also from the faet that there are only 8 of the so- 

 called »ice-days« annually (i. e. periods of 24 hours in which the 

 temperature does not reach above O"). 



Inseparable from the cold summers and mild winters of an 

 insular climate are the moistness of the atmosphere, the great masses 

 of clouds, the heavy rainfall and the constant winds which are all 

 characteristic of the Færoes. 



Moistness of the Atmosphere and Rainfall. The table 

 shows at a glance that the average moisture is as great as 82*^/o 

 annually, and that it is greatest in July-September (85 ''/o) and least 

 in winter and spring (81% and 79%). With regard to the fogs, the 

 records kept (which deal not with the fogs which shroud the 

 mountain heights, but with those which arise in low-lying regions) 

 show that they occur on 51 days in the year and are worst in 



