94 The Weather of 1908. 



the snow was seven inches deep on the ground. March and 

 April were also boisterous and ungenial, and on the 24th and 

 25th of the latter month there was an exceedingly low tempera- 

 ture, when the thermometer in the screen fell to 21.5 degs., and 

 in the grass to 15 degs. But with May came a welcome change 

 to real summer weather, which continued until well on to the 

 end of the year. 



As regards temperature, I find that the highest record was 

 on the 2nd Julv, when it was 91 degs. in the shade, four feet 

 above the grass. This occurred only once before in my experi- 

 ence — on the 20th of July, 1901 — and is very rare in Scotland. 

 The lowest temperature of the year was 15 degs. on the 5th of 

 January, being 17 degs. below the freezing point. But it may 

 be noticed that on the same night the thermometer in the grass 

 fell to 11 degs. The range of temperature for the year was 

 thus very great, amounting to no less than 76 degs., but to 80 

 degs. if reckoned from the exposed thermometer. The most 

 of the months had mean temperatures in excess of the average. 

 Thus February had 42.1 degs., as compared with a mean of 

 38.3 degs.; May had 54 degs., as compared with 51.5 degs.; 

 June had 58.1 degs., as compared with 57.7 degs.; September 

 had 55 degs., as compared with 54.7 degs.; October had 53.6 

 degs., as compared with 47.6 degs.; November, 44.3 degs., as 

 compared with 43 degs.; and December had 39.5 degs., as 

 compared with 38.7 degs. The excesses were chiefly in 

 February, May, October, and November, and amount in the 

 aggregate to 14.6 degs., while the deficiencies were in January, 

 March, and April, and amount to 7.8 degs., showing an excess 

 of almost 7 degs. Hence the annual temperature comes out 

 above average. My calculation is that the mean annual tem- 

 perature of Dumfries for the past 21 years was 47.7 degs., but 

 in 1908 it was 48.8 degs., almost 49 degs., a value which it 

 seldom reaches in this district. It has been as low as 46 degs., 

 and once at least it was 49 degs., but the real average is 47.7 

 degs. The coldest months were January, March, and April. 

 There was a good deal of frost in the first week of January and 

 in the last week of April, and in the latter period particularly, 

 on the 24th and 25th of the month, there was an abnormal 

 fall of temperature to 24.5 degs. and 21.5 degs., 10 to 12 degs. 



