J 
ossible Hours) 231 
ON METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON BEN NEVIS. 175 
inquiry into the directions of the winds observed at the top, with the 
winds observed at low-level stations at the same hours, and their relations 
to the weather of North-Western Europe. The comparative frequency 
with which the winds at the observatory blow, not with, but against, the 
isobarics of low-level stations, and indicate a force widely different from 
the barometric gradients of the weather maps of the Meteorological 
Office, are striking elements in the meteorology of Ben Nevis. 
The ‘ Report for the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ’ 
on the Ben Nevis and Fort William observations is in type, and will 
appear shortly. An early copy of the volume is submitted with this 
report to the British Association. 
For the year 1889 the following were the monthly mean pressures and 
temperatures, hours of sunshine, amounts of rainfall, and number of fair 
days at the observatory; the mean pressures at Fort William being 
reduced to 32° and sea-level, those at the Observatory to 32° only :— 
TaBceE I. 
— | Jan. | Feb. |March| April May | June | July | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. / Year 
Mean Pressure in Inches. 
Ben Nevis Ob- }25-390} 25-202) 25-280) 25-153) 25*301| 25-545) 25-406] 25:267) 25465] 25°134) 25-463) 25-339) 25°329 
servatory 
Fort William | 30-014) 29-857) 29-909] 29°745| 29-785) 30°050] 29-903) 29:746| 29°994) 29-668] 30-066] 29°953 29°891 
Difference 4°624| 4°655| 4:629| 4-592| 4-484| 4-505| 4-497| 4°479| 4°529| 4:534| 4-603/ 4-G14| 4-569 
Mean Temperatures. 
° °o ° fe} ° ° ° ° ° ° °o ° ° 
Ben NevisOb-| 27°5 | 214} 244 | 25°9 | 38:1 | 43:1 | 40:8 | 38:7 | 37-7] 30:3] 30:3] 268 32°1 
servatory 
Fort William | 41°0 | 37-4 | 41:2 | 443 | 55°9 | 57°83 | 57:6] 55:9 | 53:4 | 46:0] 4461] 41-0! 48:0 
Difference 135 | 16°0 | 168 | 184 | 178 | 14:7 | 168 | 17:2 | 15:7] 15°7| 143] 143] 15:9 
Extremes of Temperature. 
° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° 
Max. Temp. 29°2 | 86-3 | 40:7] 43:7 | 50:7] 60:0 | 61:8 | 481] 54:4] 383] 441] 38-0] 618 
Min. Temp. 169 64 | 11°2 | 15°2 | 27-7 | 28:0 | 29°71 | 30°1 | 21-1 | 21:8 | 12:5 | 13-2 64 
Difference 22°3 | 29°9 | 29:5} 28:5 | 23:01 32°0! 32:7 | 180] 333) 16:5] 316] 24:8] 5594 
Rainfall in Inches. 
Ben Nevis Ob-| 17°69) 14°86] 12-11] 3°89) 4°34) 1:94] 4:09] 18:32) 7:28! 662) 11-48 18°04 |120°66 
servatory 
“4 of no} 6 2 6 9 10 15 9 2 10 8 3 5 85 
ain 
Port William | 10°31| 877| 6:25| 3:12] 2-73] 0-84] 1:35] 7:58] 3:88] 4-72] 4:91 10:90 | 65°36 
Hours of Sunshine at Ben Nevis Observatory. 
No. of Hours { 23 27 27 52 74 | 213 97 9 46 44 11 11 | 634 
264 | 363 | 426| 508] 529/] 528] 467] 381] 3:9] 242] ¥10 | 4,470 
At Fort William the mean temperature was 0°8 under the average, 
the greatest defect from the means being 1°8 in February, and the 
greatest excess 5°-6 in May—indeed, the outstanding feature of the 
‘meteorology of the year being the all but unprecedentedly high tempera- 
ture of May, a temperature, as regards Scotland, only once exceeded 
Since 1764, or during the past 126 years. At the top of the Ben the 
excess above the mean was greater, amounting to 7°-7, as happens during 
all unusnally high summer temperatures when anticyclones prevail. 
The minimum temperature on Ben Nevis was 6°-4, which occurred at 
7 A.M. of February 10. This is absolutely the lowest temperature which 
has been recorded since the opening of the observatory in December 
