70 THE WEATHER OF 1906. 
the 10th of February, when it fell to 28.417 in.; showing an 
annual range of no less than 2.326 in. The mean barometrical 
pressure for the year (reduced to 32 degrees and sea level) was 
29.816 in. This is rather less than the average of the last twenty 
years, which is 29.913 in. The only months which had a mean 
in excess of 30 inches were April, June, and September, the 
values of these being 30.060 in. for April, 30.139 in. for June, 
and 30.197 in. for September. The lowest monthly mean was 
in February, with 29.672 in., and the next lowest was in October 
with 29.722 in. In the second week of January the barometer 
fell below 29 inches, and the weather was stormy and wet, with a 
westerly and south-westerly wind. Again in February, also the 
second week, when the lowest reading of the year was reached, 
the weather was exceedingly rough and squally, with strong 
winds between north-west and south-west. And once more on 
the llth and 12th of March, when the barometer went down to 
28.690 in., there was a repetition of the storm, mostly from the 
north-west. Stormy weather also marked the close both of 
November and December, and the latter was distinguished both 
by the severest snowstorm and the lowest temperature of the year, 
when roads and railways were blocked over the whole country, 
and many sad fatalities occurred. 
Temperature.—Passing from the barometric variations, we 
now come to the temperature, which is perhaps the most im- 
portant element of weather. Here we have on the whole a very 
favourable account to give. Premising that the observations 
are of temperature in the shade, four feet above the grass, I 
have to report that the absolute maximum, that is, the highest 
single day temperature of the whole year, was not only the highest 
for last year but the highest for many years, I think for the 
whole period of 20 vears to which my observations extend, and 
it occurred also at an unusual period, not in June, July, or 
August, but in September. In the end of August and beginning 
of September there was an extraordinary heat wave which passed 
over the country, occasioning such remarkable temperature as 82 
deg. on the 31st of August, 88 deg. on the Ist of September, and 
89 deg. on the 2d September. From 89 deg., the highest of the 
year in September, to 17 deg. on the 26th December, the lowest, 
we have the extraordinary range of 72 deg. The warmest 
months were August, with a mean of 60.5 deg.; June, with a 
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