INTRODUCTION. 



Milan, 37°. Mr. Baker (loc. cit. p. 51) remarks that the winter is 

 not materially colder at Newcastle than at London ; but all the other 

 seasons are. The summer is warmer in the interior of the south- 

 east of England than anywhere else in Britain, rising in some places 

 to a little over 60°. The autumn, both in the north and south, 

 comes very near to the average of the whole year, being generally 

 a little above it. The influence of water in cutting off extremes 

 — even in comparatively so inconsiderable a body as the Thames — 

 is also well seen in comparing the mean daily range of temperature 

 at Greenwich Observatory and Somerset House {Glaisher, p. 606) : — 



January- 

 February 

 March 

 April 

 May . 

 June. 

 July . 

 Augiist 

 September 

 October . 

 November 

 December 



Greenwich 



. 8-5 



. 9-9 



. 13-4 



. 16-7 



. 18-9 



. 19-4 



. 18-4 



. 17-6 



. 17-0 



. 13-3 



. 10-5 



. 9-0 



Extremes of Cold and Heat. — ' A night on which Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer remains for some hours below zero is, in this climate, a 

 rare occurrence : probably not above five of them fall within a 

 century' (Howard, Climate of London, vol. ii. p. 289). The lowest 

 temperature hitherto recorded, —6-5 occurred in the night of 

 December 24, 1796, at Edmonton (vol. i. p. 26). In the winter of 

 1794-95, the thermometer descended to —2. On February 9, 1816, 

 the thermometer recorded -5 at Tottenham. Watson quotes thp 

 following temperatures for the night of January 19, 1838 : Chiswick 

 - 4-5 ; Hampstead Heath, — 4 ; Kensington, — 4 ; London Royal 

 Society —11 (Ci/b. Br. vol. iv. p. 172). This was the lowest tempe- 

 rature recorded at Chiswick between 1826 and 1842 (Daniel's 

 Meteorology, vol. ii. p. 364). The highest temperature which has been 

 recorded is 97° ; this was north of London, July 18, 1825 {Howard, 

 vol. iii. p. 194). At Greenwich 96'6° was reached July 22, 1868, 

 and at Chiswick, 94'4° in 1836. ^ Continued frost,' remarks Howard 

 (vol. i. p. 239), ' in winter, is always an exception to the general rule 

 of the climate. The winter even passes, occasionally, almost without 

 a frost : in return for which we have, at uncertain intervals, a rigorous 

 season of many weeks' duration, attended with the deep snows and 



b 



