NATURE 
285 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1882 
THE RECENT WEATHER 
HE weather of the winter months of 1881-82 bids fair 
to leave its mark on the annals of meteorology in 
an unmistakable manner. The abnormalities which are 
distinguishing it may be considered as having begun with 
the great storm of October 14, which was so disastrous 
to life and property, particularly among our seafaring 
population. During the last week of that month tempera- 
ture fell low enough to produce frost on the ground, a 
circumstance here referred to from the significance 
attached to it by Sir Robert Christison, who has been so 
long one of our best and shrewdest observers of weather. 
Sir Robert’s opinion is that when the temperature ia 
Scotland during either the last week of October or the first 
week of November falls low enough to freeze the ground, 
an open winter will most probably follow, an opinion 
which the prevailing weather since has fully borne out. 
The November which followed was, as we have 
already shown (NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 131), the warmest 
November in North Britain for the past 118 years, or 
since thermometers began to be employed to record the 
temperature. On the 27th of the same month the baro- 
meter, reduced to 32° and sea-level, fell at the Butt of 
Lewis to 27°865 inches, remaining at this low point from 
4.30 to 7 a.m., this reading being probably the lowest 
barometer ever recorded in the British Islands ; and over 
a wide area in the north-west and north of Scotland, and 
for a considerable time pressure was less than 28'000 
inches. December was, generally speaking, as regards 
its meteorology, an average month, temperature being 
about a degree and a half above the mean in the north of 
the Shetlands, and as much below it in the south-west of 
Ireland ; but over the greater portion of these islands the 
deviation from the normal temperature did not, either 
way, amount to adegree. Some frost occurred about the 
middle of the month, but so slight as scarcely to offer any 
serious check to the growth of grass, and many late and 
early flowering plants, which at this early season present 
an appearance and a bloom it would be difficult to 
parallel in the experiences of the past. The open season 
has culminated in the really fine weather of the last fort- 
night, marked by a temperature a long way above the 
average of January over nearly the whole of the British 
Islands and the greater portion of Northern Europe. 
The outstanding feature of this singular weather is the 
extraordinarily high barometer which has accompanied it, 
an anticyclone of a very pronounced character and of 
great extent having overspread the Continent during this 
time. Starting from January 10, it is seen that the centre 
of highest pressure on that day was over Eastern France 
and Switzerland, in the centre of which pressure rose to 
30°512 inches. On the 11th the area of high pressure 
increased and extended to eastward, retreating again on 
the 12th to the position it had occupied on the oth, 
barometers remaining substantially at the same heights. 
On the 13th the centre of the anticyclone moved eastward 
to Prussia, pressure rising in the centre at Berlin to 30°903 
inches ; and on the following day the centre had advanced 
to Cracow with a pressure of 30°843 inches, whilst over 
VOL. xxv.—No. 639 
well nigh the half of Europe pressure exceeded 30°700 
inches. On the 15th the centre was found in the same 
position, but pressure had risen at Lemberg to 3r‘024 
inches. On the 16th the anticyclone again retreated 
somewhat to westward, and at Wilna the pressure 
rose to 31'071 inches which is unquestionably one 
of the highest readings of the barometer ever recorded 
in this part of the earth’s surface. On the 17th the centre 
occupied the region of the Alps, where at Berne, pressure 
was 31'0I2 inches; on the 18th it had retreated to west- 
ward so that the southern parts of England and Ireland 
were covered by it, pressure there being all but 31‘00o 
inches. On the three following days, the anticyclone 
retained very much the same position, but the highest 
pressure in the centre fell successively to 30'093 inches at 
Oxford, 30°079 inches at Nottingham, and 30'076 inches 
near the Isle of Wight. 
In vols. xxi., xxii., and xxiii., we took occasion, in 
reviewing the splendid series of International Weather 
Maps issued by the Meteorological Department at 
Washington, to point ‘out and enforce attention to the 
important relations thereby disclosed between the dis- 
tribution of atmospheric pressure, and that of tempera- 
ture. The same relations have been observed during the 
past fortnight. Let our Daily Weather Reports be looked 
at from the 11th to the 16th, and it will be seen that the 
British Islands lay between the anticyclone which over- 
spread the Continent with its high pressures, and a 
system, or systems, of low pressures out in the Atlantic ; 
and that the barometric gradient was considerable during 
the time. With this arrangement of the pressure, 
southerly winds set in, characterised by a remarkable 
volume and persistency, and since owing to the great 
extension southwards of the anticyclonic area, they had 
come from a great distance, these winds were further 
characterised by a mildness and a warmth reminding one 
rather of the weather often experienced towards the end 
of September. The mean temperature of London for 
these days was 5°°6 above the normal, and in the Scilly 
Isles 6°3. 
On the other hand, as the anticyclonic area’? ad- 
vanced on the south of England, the southerly winds 
gave way and were replaced with light winds and calms. 
The effects of terrestrial radiation now manifested them- 
selves in a pronounced manner over the comparatively 
calm area, and the temperature of London markedly fell, 
and fogs began to prevail, as frequently happens under 
these conditions. On the 18th and 19th it was 5°°8 below 
the normal. At the same time our western and northern 
coasts were outside the calm anticyclonic centre, and 
within the outer region where moderate barometric gra- 
dients prevailed, and there, accordingly, southerly and 
south-westerly winds and high temperatures prevailed. 
Thus while in London the temperature was 5°°8 below 
the normal, it was 5°'2 above the normal at Mullaghmore, 
6°4 at Leith, 9°°2 at Wick, and 9°6 at Stornoway. We 
have seen that the centre of the anticyclone advanced 
sooner on Lyons than on London, and there accordingly 
temperature fell sooner below the normal. Colder 
weather set in at Lyons on the 12th, at Paris on the 
14th, London on the 17th, and the Isle of Wight on 
the 18th. 
Over regions situated to the south of the anticyclonic 
fo) 
