382 The Weather of 1904. 



But shortly afterwards the temperature underwent a sudden and 

 complete change, passing from spring-like mildness to the 

 severity of mid-winter. Between the 20th and the 26th occurred 

 a fall in temperature to 19.5 deg., and the heaviest snowfall of 

 the year, or even of a good many years, measuring eleven inches 

 in depth on the ground, and causing serious obstruction to traffic 

 in many parts of the country both by road and rail. 



I now pass on to the rainfall of the year. The number of 

 days on which precipitation took place in the form of rain or 

 snow was 204 (rain, 198; snow, 6). And the amount for the 

 year was 31.26 inches. That is considerably short of the average 

 of the last eighteen years, to which the period of observation 

 extends. It is in striking contrast with that of the previous year, 

 1903, which measured no less than 50 inches. That, how'ever, 

 was the rainiest of the eighteen ; but when the record of the past 

 year is compared with the average of all these years since 1887, it 

 falls short by fully six inches, being 31.26 in., as compared with 

 a mean of 37.31 in. The other years most closely resembling it 

 were those of 1887, with a record of 30.99 in., and 1902, with a 

 record of 30.90 in., both slightly less. The rainiest month was 

 August, which had 3.85 in., and the next, January, which had 

 3.32 in. j and, curiously enough, the driest month was October, 

 which had only 1.89 in., whereas in the previous year it was the 

 rainiest month of the whole year, with over eight inches, and in 

 ordinary years has an average of nearly four inches. Most of the 

 months were drier than usual, with the exception of April, which 

 had 2.88 in., as compared with a mean of 2.12 in. One of the 

 most notable facts in connection with the rainfall was the unusual 

 dryness of the last three months, which are usually the rainiest. 

 The average amount for these months is over eleven inches, but 

 last year it was only between four and five, which was less than 

 half. There was only one day in the year that the amount 

 recorded for the twenty-four hours was in excess of an inch. 

 That was on the 15th July, which is St. Swithin's Day, when 

 1.40 in. fell, being fully one-half of the whole amount for the 

 month. The tradition is, that if it rains on St. Swithin's Day it 

 will rain for forty days thereafter. This led me to institute an 

 inquiry how far this well-known weather saying was justified by 

 the facts, as ascertained by actual observation. I accordingly 

 drew up a table, which showed: ist, Whether St. Swithin's Day 



