OCi REPORT— 1902. 



At the top of JJen Nevis the number of rainy days was 259, and at 

 Fort WilUam 235. At the top the maximum monthly was 28 days in 

 December, and at Fort William 27 days in the same mojith. In May 

 there were only 14 rainy days at the top and 12 at Fort William. 

 During the year the number of days on which 1 inch of rain or more 

 fell at the top was 54, whereas at Fort William the number of such 

 days was only 10. The corresponding numbers for 1900 were 69 and 15. 



The sunshine recorder on Ben Nevis showed 894 hours out of a 

 possible of 4,473 hours, or 20 per cent, of the possible sunshine. The 

 average of the past 18 years being 756 hours, the sunshine of 1901 was 

 138 hours above the average. May and July were the two sunniest 

 months with amounts 117 hours and 42 hours above their respective 

 averages. The amount of 75 hours in June was deficient by no fewer than 

 62 hours. At Fort William the number of hours was 1,197, or 44 

 hours above the average of 11 years. The amount for May was 86 hours 

 above, and that for June 29 hours below the average. 



At the Ben Nevis Observatory the mean percentage of cloud was 81, 

 and at Fort William 71, both fractionally below the average. At the top 

 the cloudiest month was December with 91 per cent. This is a low 

 value for the maximum monthly amount, and we may contrast it with 

 97 in December and 96 in January in 1900. We may note very low 

 cloud amounts at both top and bottom for May. 



Auroras were observed on February 19, 20 ; July 27, 28 ; August 20 ; 

 October 9. 



St. Elmo's Fire was seen on January 2, 24, 30 ; July 14 ; October 17, 

 22 ; December 31. 



Zodiacal Light : — Not observed during the year. 



Thunder and Lightning :— July 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. 



Thunder only : — June 11 ; August 12. 



Solar Halos :— June 7, 29 ; July 14 ; September 30. 



Lunar Halos :— April 2, 23, 27 ; October 29 ; November 21 : Decem- 

 ber 22. 



Meteors:— May 13, 16. 



During the past year Mr. Ormond's time has been chiefly given to 

 revising and otherwise preparing for publication the ' Meteorology of the 

 Ben Nevis Observations,' Part II., containing tlie observations for the 

 years 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1892, and an Appendix containing the 

 results of several papers which have appeared in the publications of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Scottish Meteorological Society, as 

 well as papers specially written for this volume. A copy of the volume 

 accompanies this report. This is the first of the three volumes for the 

 printing of which the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh have 

 each voted 500/. The second of these volumes is now in the printer's 

 hands. 



INIeanwhile other large researches are being carried on in the Society's 

 office on the lines indicated by your Committee in their Report to the 

 British Association at Glasgow last year. Dr. Buchan's time has been 

 almost wholly occupied with a discussion of the hourly observations of 

 pressure, temperature, humidity, sunshine, and rainfall at the two 

 observatories, with their interrelations, particularly with the important 

 bearings of the results on weather changes. 



So far as the discussion has gone the chief outcome is this, while the 

 difference of the mean temperatures of the two observatories is nearly 



