49 
days, Petro Alexandrowsk 127 (ScHwArz p. 561). January is 
the coldest month, and FıckEr gives as the absolute minima 
for 10 years, — 28°,4 and — 28°); C. for Petro Alexandrowsk 
and Tashkent respectively. On the other hand, the temper- 
ature may rise to + 20° C. in January. — Snow is not 
rare, but it seldom lies long on the ground. 
Spring comes quickly, commencing at the end of February, 
and it is comparatively warm; April is warmer than October. 
In May the average temperature is over 20° C. July is the 
hottest month, with absolute maxima for 10 years, according 
to FIcKER, 437,4 C. and 42°,ı C. for Petro Alexandrowsk and 
Tashkent. In Merw 44°,ı C. has been recorded, and in Na- 
mangan (Ferghana) as much as 47°,6 C. (MusHKETOW). The 
atmosphere is clear and nightly radiation strong, so that the 
temperature varies greatly as can be seen from the maxima 
and minima given in Table 1. The daily variations in tem- 
perature are also very great, but as the Russian meteorological 
stations do not record maximum temperatures, except the 
temperatures at 1 p. m., no definite figures can be given. At 
Tashkent in the years 1900—1902 the difference between the 
minima and the 1 p.m. readings varied from 11,4 to 20,0, 
but the maximum occurs later in the day than 1 p.m. RADDE 
(1899) records from the sand-desert a variation of temperature 
of 36° in 24 hours, while Capus (p. 20) gives up to 40°, and 
OBRUTSHEW (quoted by RADDE) records the following tempera- 
tures for the month of March in the sand-desert: At 6 a. m., 
37:9 in. 20°: ps 2B oe: 
At Tachta on the Murghab river near the northern bor- 
der of Afghanistan, the following temperatures were observed 
on June 23™ (RADDE 1899 p. 151): 
FO 
6 a. m., in shade 25,"5, in the sun 34° C. 
= —»— 29,95, —»— 
11 — —»— 40,° —»— 650° 
3 p.m.(?) —»— 43," —» — HAE 
SCHWARZ (p. 559) gives the monthly and yearly amplitudes 
for a number of stations. 
