f 



< 166 WEATHER ALMANACS. 



any scientific reunion in Europe. Such are the class of persons to whom the 

 public, in the contemptuous silence of the great leaders and guides of science 

 in every part of the world, surrendered their faith. 



As the subject of this article has given us occasion to notice the late visita- 

 tion of cold, it may be not uninteresting to compare the particulars of that part 

 of the season with similar events in former years. 



The weather in London, from last Christmas until the seventh of January, 

 was remarkably fine and mild. During the first four days of January, the ther- 

 mometer was never lower than 40 degrees, and ranged between that and 50 de- 

 grees. On the 6th it fell to 32 degrees, between which and 38 degrees it ranged 

 on that day. On the 7th the severe frost commenced, the thermometer, how- 

 ever, being rather higher on that than on the preceding day. But on the fol- 

 lowing day (the 8th) the frost became rigorous, the thermometer falling more 

 than four degrees below the freezing point. The temperature continued to fall 

 until the 16th, when it attained the minimum the thermometer then having 

 descended to 11 -4 degrees, which is twenty degrees and a half below the freez- 

 ing point. A very slight increase of temperature succeeded for the next three 

 days, when, on the 20th, the temperature again fell to 11^ degrees of the ther- 

 mometer. On that day the thermometer ranged between that temperature and 

 21 degrees (eleven degrees below the freezing point). This was the day of 

 greatest average cold, though, strictly speaking, it was not the day on which 

 the temperature was lowest. On the 22d and 23d, the thermometer rose to 

 above 40 degrees, and a rapid thaw ensued ; which, however, was succeeded 

 by a return of frost the thermometer again falling seven or eight degrees be- 

 low the freezing point. On the 29th commenced a rapid thaw, the thermome- 

 ter rising to 44 degrees on the 30th. Frost succeeded this on the 1st of Feb- 

 ruary, which continued until the 6th, when it was succeeded by a thaw, which 

 continued through the 7th, 8th, and 9th. On the ] Oth the frost recommenced, 

 and has continued to the moment of writing these observations (the 17th). 



Thus between the 7th of January and the 17th of February, the lowest point 

 to which the temperature fell was 111 degrees, which it attained twice name- 

 ly, on the 16th and 20th. The average of the lowest daily temperature 

 throughout this periods was 25 ; the average of the highest daily temperature 

 was 36-J. 



Throughout this frost there was so little snow that the face of the ground was 

 not covered and protected, and vegetables were, consequently, exposed to a 

 temperature so rigorous as to occasion extensive destruction of the products of 

 the garden. 



The last severe frost with which this can be compared occurred in January, 

 1826. On the 8th of that month the thermometer fell one degree below the 

 freezing point, and on the 16th it stood at 17 degrees at 9 in the morning be- 

 ing fifteen degrees below the freezing point, the lowest temperature recorded 

 since that day to the present time. The frost terminated on the 18th, the ther- 

 mometer then rising to 36 degrees. 



This frost of 1826 can only be compared to the recent cold in the extreme 

 of its temperature, its duration having been only ten days. 



A severe frost took place in January, 1814, which continued throughout that 

 month, and did not terminate until the 6th of February. The lowest tempera- 

 ture recorded during this frost is 17 degrees, which was the temperature at 8 

 in the morning on the ] Oth. The greatest height of the thermometer through- 

 out the month of January was 40 degrees, and the mean temperature of the 

 month was 28-08. This frost, therefore, in its duration, was less than the late 

 f frost ; the lowest and mean temperatures were also lower in the present year 

 than in 1814 



