METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



BAROMETER. 



NOVEMBER 22, 1768. A remarkable fall of the barometer all 

 over the kingdom. At Selborne we had no wind, and not much 

 rain ; only vast, swagging, rock-like clouds appeared at a distance. 

 WHITE. 



PARTIAL FROST. 



The country people, who are abroad in winter mornings long 

 before sunrise, talk much of hard frost in some spots, and none in 

 others. The reason of these partial frosts is obvious, for there are 

 at such times partial fogs about ; where the fog obtains, little or no 

 frost appears ; but where the air is clear, there it freezes hard. So 

 the frost takes place either on hill or in dale, wherever the air 

 happens to be clearest and freest from vapour. WHITE, 



THAW. 



Thaws are sometimes surprisingly quick, considering the small 

 quantity of rain. Does not the warmth at such times come from 

 below ? The cold in still, severe seasons seems to come down from 

 above ; for the coming over of a cloud in severe nights raises the 

 thermometer abroad at once full ten degrees. The first notices of 

 thaws often seem to appear in vaults, cellars, &c. 



If a frost happens, even when the ground is considerably dry, as 

 soon as a thaw takes place, the paths and fields are all in a batter. 

 Country people say that the frost draws moisture But the true 

 philosophy is, that the steam and vapours continually ascending 



