206 J. HOPKINSON — METEOEOLOGICAL OBSEEVATIONS 



2ncl, and another gale with rain and snow occurred on the morn- 

 ing of the 26th. 



Apeil. — Warm and bright, very windy, with much rain (all 

 after 11th), and with an atmosphere of average humidity and of 

 very low pressure. The temperature throughout the month was 

 remarkably uniform. Max. above 52° on 25 days, above 62° on 2 ; 

 min. below 32° on 1 (16th). After the 11th rain fell every day 

 except on 18th, 20th, 21st, and 26th. On the 29th there was a 

 severe gale, with a south-west wind, which probably added to the 

 destruction of foliage caused by its violence by depositing salt- 

 crystals (from sea-spray carried in the air from the coast) on the 

 leaves of trees and shrubs which in their then young and tender 

 state were peculiarly susceptible to injury. Although it has been 

 doubted whether the strength of the gale might not have been 

 sufficient to account for all the injury to vegetation, the fact that 

 salt-spray was carried over the greater part of the south of England 

 and deposited on trees, etc., is iindisputed. The deposition of salt 

 with rain falling in stormy weather is not unusual, though seldom 

 if ever known to have been deposited to such an extent as on this 

 occasion, for at Rotliamsted the chlorine in the rain collected "has 

 averaged 13-42 lbs., equal to 22*12 lbs. of pure common salt per 

 acre per annum. At Cirencester the amount is equal to 53"66 

 lbs. of salt."* A full account of this gale, with various opinions 

 as to the presence and injurious effects of the salt- spray, is 

 given in ' Symons' Monthly Meteoi'ological Magazine ' for May, 

 1882.t 



Mat. — Very warm, with a very dry atmosphere (much drier 

 than in any other month in the year), bright, rather windy, and 

 with less than the average amount of rain. From 1st to 5th rain 

 fell every day, then for 14 days, 6th to 19th, none whatever fell, 

 from 20th to 26th rain again fell everyday but 21st, and from 27th 

 to the end of the month none fell, there being thus two wet and 

 two dry periods. Max. temp, above 62° on 20 days, and as it 

 never reached 70° it will be seen that it was very generally high, 

 but never excessively so ; min. below 42° on 9. Thei'e was a 

 severe thunderstorm on the 22nd. 



June. — Cold, very dull, the sky not once being clear of clouds at 

 9 a.m., and the mean amount of cloud being greater than in any 

 other month in the year, with a rather windy atmosphere of average 

 humidity, and with a large amount of rain ; until the 26th there 

 were not two successive days without rain. Max. temp, above 62° 

 on 18 days, and never reaching 72°, which is exceptional for June ; 

 min. below 52° on 23, below 42° on 1 (17th). The month opened 

 with colder weather than that with which May closed, and, as the 

 mean temperature was only 2° higher than in that month, June 

 was comparatively a cold month. Indeed, while from January to 

 May the weather was warmer than usual, fz-om June to September 



* Lawes and Gilbert, ' Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc.', 2nd ser., vol. xviii, p. 66. 

 t Vol. xvii, p. 65. 



