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this weather going tolast?” ‘‘Is the English climate completely changed?” ‘Are 
we never to have summer again ?” 
A few remarks on this topic may not be inappropriate in the present unsum- 
merlike period, although we may hope we have reached the close of it. I do not 
wish to recall unpleasant memories of numerous ‘*good wettings,” spoiled pic-nics, 
or postponed parties, or to dwell on the disagreeables which are general concomi- 
tants of such a season; but rather to state a few facts by which a comparison may 
be made with other years, and if there is any conclusion of value to be drawn 
from such a comparison, to leave it to those wiser than myself todo so. There 
can be no doubt of the value of meteorological observations, for however little we 
may yet know of some of the great secrets of the science, and however slight may 
be our power to forecast with any certainty the coming weather, it cannot be 
unimportant to store up and accumulate for future use any observations made with 
sufficient precision and accuracy to be reliable, and thus help to pave the way for 
future discoveries. 
As regards temperature, the year may be divided into three portions of four 
months each :—(1) A warm period, from May 21 to September 21 (summer). (2) 
Acold period, from November 21 to March 21 (winter) (3) Two intermediate 
ones, from March 22 to May 20, and from September 22 to November 20 (spring 
and autumn). 
I only propose to treat now of the first of these which embraces the general 
limits of our English summer. For notwithstanding that occasionally hot weather 
sets in earlier than the 20th May, and sometimes (as in 1865) continues till as late 
as the 7th October (the average temperature of the two dates, May 21 and Sep. 
tember 21, being nearly the same), yet real summer weather generally does not 
begin earlier than the former or continue longer than the latter date. 
In estimating the character of the summer season, the principal points to be 
ascertained are the maximum temperature by day, the minimum temperature by 
night, quantity or depth of rain, the number of rainy days, amount of sunshine, 
intervals of fine weather of not less than three days, the prevalence or otherwise 
of thunderstorms, hailstorms, or tornadoes. The present year may be thus de- 
scribed—A warm period, succeediag a cold one of nearly three months duration, 
began on the 3rd November, 1881, and continued almost uninterruptedly till the 
2ist May, 1882. From the 22nd, a wet cool season has prevailed unto the 
present time, a period of nine weeks, during which we have had a rainfall of 8? 
inches, just double the average amount, and in 50 days out of the 63, rain has fallen 
more or less. Thunderstorms have been very frequent, especially at the com- 
mencement of the period, and many lives have been lost in various parts of the 
country. The wind has been nearly constant from S. to W., and although the 
temperature has not been so low as in 1879, it has been nearly always below the 
average, and there have been no days as yet on which a maximum temperature of 
80 degrees has been recorded, and very few above 75 degrees. Another feature 
has been that during the whole period of nine weeks, there has only been one 
interval of four days without rain. The haymaking, as we all know, has been 
greatly delayed andI fear much will be spoiled in consequence. The south and 
