374 



froir 

 tliau 

 cold< 



Tbe year enas up witn au extraordinary montli, one which 

 will chiefly be remembered in the district as being without snow, 

 although snow had fallen heavily all round us. It may be 

 divided into two distinct portions, the weather in the first half 

 being cyclonic, with heavy rain and warm winds ; but the latter 

 half was dry, very cold, with exceedingly dense and continuous 

 fogs, and abnormally heavy rime on trees, buildings, &c. The 

 frost gave way on Christmas Day, and the month ended up as it 

 began. But for this cold spell it would have been at Beddington 

 one of the warmest Decembers for many years, and even as it is, 

 it is the warmest since 188'4, the mean temperature being 39*5°. 

 It is remarkable that at Beddington the mean maximum of 

 December, 3890, was only 0-3° higher than the mean minimum 

 of the present one ; but the variation of the daily mean was far 

 more than in 1890, the difference between the warmest and 

 coldest days (4th and 22nd) bemg 33-5° as against 21-0° in 

 December,* 1890. 



