34 Meteorology. 



3'ear fell short of the averag-e. Althoug-h August was the warmest 

 month, it was marked by an unusual number of days on which 

 more or less rain fell (no fewer than 28 out of the 31, with occa- 

 sional thunderstorms) ; but while there was less sunshine than 

 usual, the nights were generally warm, as is shewn by the high 

 mean minimum of 52-7 deg., which is higher than that of July by 

 3 degs. The finest months of the year, and the most exceptional 

 in point of warmth and dryness, were May and September, and 

 particularly the latter. The first two months of the year were 

 characterised by a protracted frost of unusual severity, which set 

 in in the concluding days of December, 1894, and continued with 

 little intermission till the 4th or 5th of March. The mean tem- 

 perature of January wa.s only 30-7 deg., as compared with average 

 of 37"3 deg., and that of February as low as 28*2 deg., which is 

 about 10 deg. under the normal. It will give some idea of the 

 extraordinary character of this long spell of fi'ost when it is men- 

 tioned that the protected thermometer fell below the freezing 

 point on 51 out of the 59 days comprised in the first two months 

 of the year, and that the aggregate amount of degrees of frost 

 was 207 for January and 288'9 deg. for February, in all 495-9 

 deg. The climax was reached on the 8th and 10th February, on 

 which two nights the mercury fell to 1 deg. below zero, a rare 

 circumstance in this district. In some parts of the country con- 

 siderably lower readings than this were recorded, as at Drumlanrig, 

 for example, where the thermometer fell to 1 1 deg. below zero, 

 and at Braemar, where it went down to 17 deg. below. During 

 the week from the 8th to the 14th February the themometer only 

 once rose above the freezing point, and one day, the ninth, the 

 maximum was as low as 19 deg., while the highest of the minimum 

 or night readings was only 9-7, and the mean temperature for 

 that week was no more than 16 deg. It need hardly be added 

 that during the greater part of the month the river Nith was 

 frozen over, and that great damage was done by the bursting of 

 water pipes, and no small amount of inconvenience occasioned by 

 the scarcity of water owing to its being frozen in the supply pipes. 

 In some instances this was found to be the case with pipes sunk 

 three or four feet below the surface of the ground. As to the 

 other months in which frost occurred, there were six days in 

 March with an aggregate of 18-2 deg., six in April with an aggre- 

 gate 10-5 deg., twelve in October with an aggregate of G5-8 deg.; 



