54 J. HOPKTNSON METEOEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



and the nights were about two degrees colder than usual, there 

 being an average daily range of temperature. There was more 

 bright sunshine than in any month in the year but July, and there 

 was not a single sunless day recorded at either Berkhamsted or 

 Bennington. Hail fell on the night of the 10th; the exposed 

 thermometer at Berkhamsted showed from four to five degrees of 

 frost on the four nights 11th to 14th; and there was a slight fall 

 of snow at Baldock on the 11th, at Odsey on the 12th, and at 

 St. Albans on the morning of the 13th, but not sufficient there 

 to yield a measurable quantity of water. 



June. — Rather warm, very humid, cloudy, and with a considerable 

 rainfall, but not many wet days. The excess of temperature was 

 chiefly due to the nights being warm, the daily range being less 

 than usual. Bright sunshine was unusually deficient for a summer 

 month. There was a thunderstorm early on the morning of 

 Tuesday the 1st, reported from Berkhamsted and St. Albans, and 

 also from other places in the county, such as Boyston and Kick- 

 mansworth. At Berkhamsted rain fell during the storm for five 

 minutes at the rate of an inch an hour. About an inch of rain 

 fell on the 8th. On the afternoon of Thursday the 24th there 

 was a very severe hailstorm which did much damage between 

 Hitchin and Luton, the loss to the crops in this district being 

 estimated at several thousand pounds. Lilley Bottom, Pirton, and 

 Henlow suifered most from its ravages. In many fields every head 

 of corn was cut off' by the hail. JSo hail fell at Hitchin, but at 

 High Down, near Pirton, over 200 panes of glass were broken, and 

 nearly all the windows in the village of Henlow. Many trees 

 were blown down by the high wind, and the roofs of several 

 cottages were stripped. The wind did most damage in the 

 neighbourhood of Lilley Bottom and Henlow. Between 1.3U and 

 2 p.m., before this stoi'm began to rage in the north-west of the 

 county, there was a thunderstorm at St. Albans ; and in the evening 

 of the same day a very severe thunch^rstorm passed over St. Albans 

 and other places. At King's Langley a terrific report was heard 

 as a tree opposite Laurel Bank was struck by the lightning. At 

 Kensw'orth the storm was severe, and a tine tree and the chimney 

 of a cottage were struck. Rain fell at Berkhamsted during the 

 storm for three minutes at tlie rate of nearly two inches an hour. 

 This was the hottest day in the year at New Barnet, but at all 

 other stations the 4th of August was the hottest. At Berkhamsted 

 in the morning the heat in the sun's rays was very great, the black 

 bidb solar-radiation thermometer registering 140°. 



July. — A very warm month, with a very dry atmosphere, a very 

 bright sky, and an exceedingly saiall rainfall on a small number of 

 days. The nights were but little warmer than usual, but the days 

 were very warm, the mean daily ma.ximum tem])erature exceeding 

 the average by more than three degrees. The mean daily range of 

 temperature was the greatest of any month in the year. There 

 was also more bright sunshine than in any other month in the 

 year, and only one day was sunless. On the night of the 7th-8th 



