118 The Weather of the Past Agricnltxiral Year. 



weather was followed by a long run of unseasonable warmth. 

 In London (at Camden Square) the thermometer succeeded in 

 reaching 50° or more on each of the eighteen days, January 29 

 to February 15, the longest consecutive run of warmth ever 

 recorded in that locality during the winter season. The 

 highest temperatures of the winter were observed in most 

 places either at the beginning or about the middle of February. 

 Between February 2 and 5 the thermometer in the screen 

 touched 60" in several parts of North Wales and the adjacent 

 English districts, while on February 14 a reading of 60" was 

 reached at Woking. The winter included two periods of 

 drought, each lasting for at least a fortnight, and in some places 

 for even longer, the first of these dry spells occurring around 

 the middle of December, and the second around the middle of 

 January. At Durham, on the earlier occasion, no rain fell 

 during a period of twenty days (December 5 to 24)). The 

 January drought was followed by a long run of wet weather, 

 lasting in many of the western districts until early in March. 

 At Mallow, in Co. Cork, rain fell daily for a period of no less 

 than forty-four days. The winter rains were, however, seldom 

 of any unusual weight, falls of an inch or more in twenty-four 

 hours being comparatively rare. In Lancashire a heavy down- 

 pour occurred on January 8, when an inch and three-quarters 

 was collected at Lancaster, and over two inches at Stonyhurst. 

 The south of England was similarly affected on February 7 ; 

 at Sheepstor, on the slopes of Dartmoor, more than an inch 

 and three quarters of rain was measured, and at Princetown 

 more than two inches and a half. The stormiest weather of 

 the winter occurred in February, most of the gales being from 

 a South-Westerly quarter. The boisterous spell appears to 

 have culminated about the 21st or 22nd of the month, when a 

 gale of great violence was experienced, more especially in the 

 southern parts of the country. 



For the winter as a whole the mean temperature was con- 

 siderably above the average, but rainfall very tleficient, the 

 total amount in some parts of the northern and midland 

 counties being less than two-thirds of the noi^mal. Over the 

 country generally the winter was considerably drier than 

 either of its four immediate predecessors, but less dry than the 

 winter of 1908-09. The duration of bright sunshine was 

 slightly below the average in most districts, but a trifle above it 

 in the south-east of England. 



The Spring op 1914. 



The spi'ing of 1914 opened with extremely unsettled 

 weather, the month of March proving in many places one of 

 the wettest on record. In the latter half of the season the 



I 



