24 ]\l F.TKOROLOOV. 



average. The absolute minimum of 13 (leg. on the 29tli of that 

 month was the lowest December reading since 188G, and the 

 lowest in any month since the extreme frost in February, 1895, 

 M'lien the thermometer went down a little below zero. On both 

 occasions the river Nith was frozen over; but in December last 

 this condition lasted but a brief period, and the ice was not so 

 strong as to be safe for skating or curling. On tlie whole, the 

 year was a favourable one in point of temperature. Had it not 

 been for tlie coniparntive coldness of April and May, and the 

 spells of severe frost in the second and last weeks of December, 

 it would liave been imr of tlie warmest years of the jicriod of 

 observation. 



Rainfall. — Tlie number of days on which rain or sikjw fell 

 during 1899 was 189 (rain 181, snow 8). This is a httle above 

 tlie average, which may l)e reckoned at 177. The heaviest fall 

 in 24 hours was registered on 28tli March, and amounted to 1'80 

 ill. It occurred in connection with a south-westerly storm of 

 considerable severity. But there were two other months in which 

 tlie fall for 24 liours exceeded 1 in., viz., on 28th June and 3d 

 Novemlicr, on each of which days it amounted to 1-01 in. So 

 heavy a fall as 1-80 in. in 24 hours, amounting as it does to 180 

 tons of water per acre, is very rare in this district. For the most 

 part it is only two or three times in a year that it amounts to or 

 exceeds an incli. The total fall for the year was 40-86 in. This 

 exceeds tlie average of 12 years by fully 5 in., the mean for that 

 period being 35-57 in. The rainiest month was November, which 

 had a record of 5-55 in., by far the greatest part of which, how- 

 ever, fell in the tirst two weeks, and was followed by extremely 

 fine weather in the second half of the month. I have noted that 

 on the 4th November the Nith was in \ery heavy flood. Not 

 only were the Sands Hooded, but the water rose as far as the new 

 buildings in Friars' Yennel, and in Nith Street as far as the 

 junction with Irish Street. The depth of the river as shewn by 

 the gauge at the New Bridge was about 1 2 feet. The rainfall of 

 January was very little short of that of November, amounting to 

 5-27 in. Twice in that month the Ijarometer fell below 29 in. — 

 on the 12th, when it went down to 28-550 in.; and again on tlie 

 21st, when the lowest reading was 28-976 in. The month as a 

 whole was stormy and wet, with strong southerly and soutli- 

 westerly gales, and moderate temperature until the last week, 

 when a spell of siiarp frost was experienced. The driest as well 



