226 J. Hur Jvi*'. bo^ — Mi:.liiuKuLuolCAL oBSERVAflONS 



and the roads were flooded ; at King's Langley a large barn had its 

 roof lifted off and carried some yards away ; about Redboum many 

 trees were blown down and ricks unthatched ; two trees fell across 

 the Hatfield and Dunstable line, nearly causing an accident to a 

 passenger train ; two large elm-trees were blown down in Canons 

 Park, Ware ; and at Cheshunt a fir-tree fell across the road and 

 damage was done to fences and buildings. There was another gale 

 on Saturday the 21st. Mr. Mawley reports that it was the most 

 windy January at Berkhamsted for five years, and had the greatest 

 amount of sunshine for fourteen years except in 1891. 



rEBRXjAEY. — A somewhat similar month to Januarj", being mild 

 and wet, with a bright sky, and of average bumidity. The mean 

 temperature was 2°"7 above the average, the excess being due 

 more to the wannth of the days than of the nights. The weather 

 was cold at the beginning of the month, but the temperature 

 rapidly rose, and by the 10th it was unprecedentedly warm. On 

 the 4th the mean temperature was 28°-6 at Berkhamsted, 29°-7 at 

 St. Albans, and 30°-0 at Hertford ; on the 7th, 44° at Berkham- 

 sted, 43° at St. Albans, and 45° at Hertford; and on the inth, 

 56°0 at Berkhamsted, 54°-9 at St. Albans, and 46°-5 at Hertford; 

 giving a mean temperature for these three stations of 29°-4 on the 

 4th, 44°'0 on the 7th, and 52°-5 on the 10th, a remarkable rise at 

 intervals of only three days. AVhile the temperature on the 4th 

 was 8° below the normal for February, that on the 10th was the 

 average for the middle of May. There were gales on the 11th, 

 12th, and 13th. That on the 11th blew down an ash-tree at 

 Bishop's Stortford, and that on the 13th blew down a very fine 

 elm-tree near Stanborough Cottage on the Great North Road. It 

 was reported in the ' Hertfordshire Advertiser ' that " several 

 people were blown down " in this gale at Bushey. The whole of 

 the rain in the month fell on the first fifteen days, except here 

 and there Q-Ol or 0-02 in. Snow fell on the 4th, 5th, and 6th. 

 Mr. Mawley reports that this was the most sunny Februaiy for 

 the fourteen years over which his records at Berkhamsted extend. 



March. — Rather cold, with a rather humid atmosphere, a bright 

 sky, and a very small rainfall on a small number of days. The 

 coldness of the month was entirely due to the low night tempera- 

 tures, their mean being lower than in any other month in the year, 

 and the absolute mimimum, at Berkhamsted and St. Albans on the 

 21st, and at Bennington on the 22nd, also being the lowest in the 

 year. Both the mean daily range and the absolute range were 

 therefore great. This was the driest March, except that of 1893, 

 for many years, and it was unusually sunny. '1 here was one very 

 cold week, 19th to 25th, when the mean tempei'ature at Berkham- 

 sted was 31°, being about 10° below that of the month. Snow 

 fell on most days from the 18th to the 25th; to the depth of four 

 inches in the neighbourhood of Royston on the 21st, but the ground 

 was scarcely covered about Berkhamsted and St. Albans. On this 

 day the exposed thermometer at Berkhamsted registered 10°, or 

 22° of frost. 



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