147 



November, notwithstanding the frost above alluded to, was more than one 

 degree above the average temperature. 



January, after the first day, which was four degrees below the average, was 

 warm throughout. The only frosts occurred on the 1st and 2nd, and then the 

 minimum showed 31-6°, or less than half a degree of frost. This is very remark- 

 able, and since my observations commenced in 1859, I have had nothing at all to 

 compare to it. The average number of frosty nights in January being 13. 



In 1879 there were 28 frosts. 

 In 1861 there were 24 frosts. 

 In 1881 there were 22 frosts. 

 In 1871 there were 22 frosts. 

 In 1880 there were 20 frosts. 



In 1884 there were 2 frosts. 

 In 1883 there were 4 frosts. 

 In 1882 there were 5 frosts. 

 In 1875 there were 5 frosts. 

 In 1877 there were 6 frosts. 



Again multiplying the degrees of frost each night by the number of nights on 

 which it occurred, a comparison with the eight (omitting decimals) warmest and 



The contrast between 1881 and 1884 is very striking, bbing 355 to 1. It will 

 also be seen that whereas on the three successive Januaries of 1879, 1880, and 1881 

 we had 720 degrees of frost, or an average of 240 degrees per month, in the follow- 

 ing three years we had only 18, or an average of six degrees per month. Before 

 passing on to the month of February, it may be well to notice the extraordinary 

 depression of the barometer which occurred on the 26th January. 



The reading at Ross on that day at 5.15 p.m. was 28-42, corrected for sea- 

 level and temperature, 32°. At 9.45 p.m. the barometer at Ochtertyre, near 

 Criefif, Scotland, stood at 27-332. 



From an examination of past records, there is no evidence ot so low a reading 

 as this in the British Islands previously. At London the lowest record is 27.93 

 on December 25th, 1821. 



In the North of Scotland however, owing to the normal path of storm centres 

 traversing that country, pressures are as a rule about -20 lower, and in the great 

 storm of January 7th, 1839, the reading at Aberdeen was 27-70. 



At Stornoway (Isle of Lewis), a fall of an inch, in a little over four hours, 

 occurred on last January 20th (1884), and this is said to be the greatest fall in so 

 short a time recorded in the British Isles. 



At Sandwich, in the Orkneys, the wind reached the greatest velocity known, 

 namely, 92 3 miles an hour. 



This storm first reached the north-west of Ireland about noon, and passing in 



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