xi.j THE WEATHER DURING MAY AND JUNE. 423 



constant north winds, the perpetual snow-storms and the nn- 

 (;easing cold, and the hope of a speedy release from the fetters of 

 the ice, were naturally constantly recurring topics of conversa- 

 tion. During this time many lively word-battles were fouglit 

 between the weather proi^hets in the gunroom, and many bets 

 made in jest between the optimists and pessimists. The former 

 won a great victory, when at noon on the 8th February the 

 temperature rose to + 0°'l C, but with the exception of this 

 success fortune always went against them. The north wind, the 

 drifting snow and the cold, would never cease. A blue water- 

 sky indeed was often visible at the horizon to the north and 

 north-east, but the " clearing " first reached our vessel a couple 

 of hours before we left our winter haven for ever, and up to the 

 15th June the thickness of the ice was almost undiminished (1| 

 metre). The sun rose higher and higher, but without forming 

 any crust upon the snow, although upon the black hull of the 

 Vega, perhaps with the helj) of the heat in the interior, it had 

 by the 1-ith March melted so much snow that small icicles were 

 formed at the gunwale. It was one of the many deceptive 

 prognostications of spring which were hailed with delight. 

 However, immediately after severe cold recommenced and 

 continued during the whole of the month of April, during 

 Avhich the temperature of the air never rose above — 4°' 6, the 

 mean temperature being — 18""9. 



May began with a temperature of — 20°'l. On the 3rd the 

 thermometer showed — 26°'8, and in the " flower-month " we 

 had only for a few hours mild weather with an air temperature 

 -f- 1°'8. Even the beginning of June was very cold ; on the 3rd 

 we had — l'i°'3, with a mean temperature for the twenty-four 

 hours of — 9°'4. Still on the 13th the thermometer at midnight 

 showed — 8°'0, but the same day at noon with a gentle southerly 

 wind a sudden change took place, and after that date it was 

 only exceptionally that the thermometer in the open air sank 

 below the freezing-point. The melting and evaporation of snow 

 now began, and went on so rajiidly that the land in the end of 

 the month was almost free of snow. 



Under what circumstances this took place is shown by the 

 following abstract of the observations of temperature at Pitlekaj 

 from the 13th June to the 18th July, 1879 :— 



