The Weather of the Fast Agricultural Year. 419 



half of December resulted in local floods of considerable 

 severity. Owing, however, to the counterbalancing effect of 

 the partial drought which occurred in January and Febriiary 

 the total rainfall for the winter in the same district was in 

 almost precise agreement with the average. In the east of 

 England the winter rainfall was in excess of the average, but 

 in the north-eastern counties it was very deficient, the amount 

 over the district as a whole being more than 20 per cent, below 

 the normal. The season was characterised by several long 

 periods of gloomy misty weather, but these were interspersed 

 with a number of days upon which the sun shone with unusual 

 brilliancy, and as a result the total duration of sunshine was 

 nearly everywhere a trifle in excess of the average. 



The Spring of 1911. 



The spring was of a proverbially changeable character, but 

 was on the whole fair and dry, with a temperature differing 

 but little from the normal. Frequent spells of drought were 

 experienced, and occasional sharp night frosts, resulting in 

 many instances in a considerable amount of damage to fruit and 

 other crops. March was mostly cloudy, with a preponderance 

 of winds from the northward, and a consequent absence of 

 genial warmth, few places experiencing at any time a shade 

 temperature as high as 60". Sharp frosts were, upon the other 

 hand, somewhat rare, the principal cases occurring around the 

 middle of the month, or in the closing week. April opened 

 with blustering wintry weather, with falls of snow in most 

 districts and a strong north-easterly gale in the south of England 

 on the 6th. The temperatures registered about this time were 

 remarkably low for the season. On the nights of the 4th and 5th 

 the sheltered thermometer fell at least 10" below the freezing 

 point, while on the surface of the grass it went still lower, 

 some stations recording a grass minimum as low as 15°. More 

 remarkable even than the night frosts was the excessive lowness 

 of the midday temperatures. On the 5th the thermometer at a 

 number of places in the south of England failed to reach 35", 

 and in a few isolated localities it did not rise above the freezing 

 point, the midday readings being [the lowest ever recorded at 

 so advanced a period in the season. After the 11th the cold 

 northerly winds died away, and for the remainder of April 

 the weather was more genial. Very little rain fell during the 

 fii-st three weeks ; at Beaconsfield there were, twenty consecu- 

 tive days without any measm-able quantity. In May another 

 long period of drought was experienced, many places in the 

 central and southern parts of the coimtry recording an entire 

 absence of rain lasting for twenty oi- more days. In the north 

 of England a heavy fall occurred, liowever, on the 13th and 



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