The Meteorology of 1900. 37 



depths of from 6 to 8 and eveu 9 feet. And after the melting- of 

 the snow in February, witli a heavy rainfall of more than an inch, 

 it must have been 10 feet. Even in April, May, and June there 

 was a good deal of fioodiug'. I need hardly add that the result of 

 such a wet year, along with the excess of 4 inches in 1899, will 

 be to raise the average rainfall of Dumfries to a somewhat 

 higher figure than that at which it previously stood. The mean 

 of 12 years was 36 '20 in. When the amounts for the past two 

 years are added it will come out at 37'43 in. as the average of 14 

 years. 



Hygeometer. — The observations of the dry and wet bulb 

 thermometers were taken twice every day, at 9 A.M. and 9 P.M., 

 and under the same conditions as those of the maximum and mini- 

 mum thermometers — that is to say, in the Stevenson screen and 

 four feet above the grass. The mean of all the dry bulb readings 

 for the year was 47 •? deg., very nearly the same temperature, it 

 will be observed, as that of the year, which was 48 deg. The 

 mean of 48 deg. was obtained by adding the daily maximum and 

 minimum readings and dividing by the number of observations — 

 the hygrometer mean by adding the daily morning and evening 

 observations and dividing as before — and the result is that there 

 is only a difference of three-tenths of a degree between the means 

 obtained by these two methods. This is a practical confirmation 

 of what is often stated in meteorological treatises, that the mean 

 temperature of day, week, month, or year may be ascertained by 

 either of those methods with almost equal accuracy. The mean 

 of all the wet bulb readings for the year was 45-4 deg., showing a 

 difference of 2-3 deg. This brings out the temperature of the dew 

 point for the year at 42-8 deg., and the relative humidity 

 (saturation being equal to 100) at 83. The greatest humidity was 

 in January and November, when it was 90, and the next greatest 

 in February, October, and December, when it was 88. The 

 months in which the least humidity was recorded were May and 

 June, which were represented by 73 and 76. 



Thunderstorms, &C. — Thunderstorms were not frequent 

 during the year, but I have noted five occasions on which there 

 was thunder and lightning, viz., three in June, on the 11th, 22nd, 

 and 23rd ; one in August, on the 21st; and another on December 



