♦352 REPORT— 1900. 



The western side of the ocean was in great turmoil towards the close of the 

 period under investigation, a depression skirting the American coast causing 

 severe hurricanes and snowstorms, a great blizzard blocking up New York, and 

 for twenty-four hours not a single vessel was able to pass Sandy Hook inward or 

 outward. 



On February 11 the barometer on the far north of the Atlantic was down to 

 nearly '2S^ inches, while at the same time there was a reading of 31"42 inches 

 at Swift Current in Canada, believed to be the highest record known in America. 



There was a very striking difference in the conditions obtaining on the continents 

 on either side of the ocean. The American winter was characterised by almost 

 persistent and severe cold in December and February, and to a less extent in 

 January. As on the ocean February proved by far the worst month, the Weather 

 Bureau at Washington stating that ' the overshadowing event of the month was 

 the severe and widespread cold, culminating in a freeze that for duration and 

 severity stands unparalleled in the history of the Weather Bureau." Temperatures 

 below zero Fahrenheit were registered over an extensive area, many places went 

 below —40°, the lowest reported being —61° at Fort Logan, Montana, on the 

 night of the 10th. Severe frost extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico, both 

 the swift-flowing rivers and Gulf water at the mouths of the Mississippi being 

 frozen over. 



Europe, on the other hand, had an exceedingly mild, open season, there being 

 an entire absence of the usual January cold over the British Isles, while the 

 temperatures recorded round February 10 were unprecedentedly high, Greenwich, 

 Brussels, and Paris being higher by several degrees than ever before experienced 

 in February. At Liege the thermometer rose to 70°-5, or 131^° above the 

 American minimum of the following night. The exceptionally high temperatures 

 extended eastward to the Ural Mountains, and even Davos Platz, an Alpine 

 station at an elevation of 5,120 feet, had five days with afternoon maxima 

 between 60° and 63°. 



The Physical Effects of Winds in Towns and their Influence on 

 Ventilation. By J. W. Thomas. 



6. A Novel Form of Mercurial Barometer. By A. S. Davis. 



7. The Rainfall of the Northern Counties of Enyland. 

 By John Hopkinson, F.E.Met.Soc, Assoc.Inst.C.E. 



This is the third of a series of papers on the rainfall of the English counties, 

 an account of the rainfall of the South- Western Counties having been given at the 

 Bristol Meeting of the Association in 1898, and the rainfall of the South-Eastern 

 Counties having been similarly treated at Dover last year. The counties here 

 considered as northern are Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland, 

 Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln. They comprise 

 an area of 18,383 square miles, which is considerably over one-third that of 

 England, and more than one-seventh that of the British Isles. The mean 

 monthly rainfall for the ten years 1881 to 1890 at ninety-four stations in these 

 counties has been computed, and the mean annual rainfall at 184 stations, being 

 one to the nearest 100 square miles in each county. Thus, for example, the mean 

 annual rainfall of the smallest county, Nottingham (837 square miles), is deduced 

 from the records of eight stations, and that of the largest, Yorkshire (6,836 square 

 miles), from the records of fifty-eight stations. Each Riding of Yorkshire has 

 been similarly treated, except that there is one station short of the full number for 

 the North Riding, one more than the right number being allotted to the East 

 Riding in order to bring the total for the whole county correct. 



