158 METEUR0L0t5Y OF 1901. 



equallj^ low, rang-ing from 28-630 in. to 28-956 in. On only other 

 two months of the year did the readings fall below 29 in., once on 

 27th January, and four times in March, on the 1st and 2nd, and 

 again on the 30th and 31st, and in all these days the weather was 

 more than usually stormy, with heavy snow and sleet on the first 

 date, which caused flooding of the river to the depth of about 10 

 feet, and snow, haii, and sleet on the last, which also resulted in 

 heavy flooding. On the 12th and 13th November, with a fall of 

 the barometer to 29-061 in., there was a severe north-easterly 

 storm which caused much damage both on sea and land, and again 

 about the same date in December there was a similar storm from 

 the north-east, accompanied in England by heavy rains and in 

 Scotland for the most part by snow, which caused great destruc- 

 tion of the telegraph wires and serious interruption of the com- 

 munication between the sguth and north ; but the greatest fall 

 was about Christmas, and was accompanied towards the end of 

 the year by strong gales and heavy falls of snow, sleet, and rain, 

 and in consequence of the melting of the snow on the higher 

 grounds the greatest flooding of the year was recorded on the 

 morning of the 1st January, when the river rose to the height 

 of IH feet, and the Sands were completely covered. 



Temperature in Shade (Four Feet above Grass). — The 

 highest reading of the protected thermometer during the year 

 occurred on the 20th July. There was a thunderstorm on that 

 day, and the thermometer rose to the unprecedented height of 91 

 deg., which was not only the absolute maximum of the year, but 

 the highest single day reading of the fifteen years to which the 

 observations extend. The lowest reading of the year was 18-3 

 deg. on the 29th March, an unusual period for such extreme cold, 

 giving an annual range of 72-7. It may be remarked here that 

 March was on the whole a cold and backward spring month, 

 especially in the second half, with frost and snow at the very 

 end, and the same thing was true of the first part of April, verify- 

 ing in a remarkable degree the old saying, " March borrowed 

 from April three days and they were wild." And this led to the 

 apprehension at that time of a late harvest. The year as a whole, 

 however, was far from being unfavourable in point of tempera- 

 ture. The only months which had means below the average were 

 February, March, June, November, and December, the aggregate 



