C2 KEroRT— 1903. 



the value of these observations in forecasting, nor instituted any examina- 

 tion of the records of the Ben Nevis Observatories with the view of 

 testing their possible value in forecasting. 



As regards the future of the Observatories, it may be stated that last 

 summer the Directors resolved that the two Observatories should be closed 

 in October last year. They issued a memorandum which stated that the 

 Observatory on the top of Ben Nevis had been in existence for nearly 

 nineteen years, that it had been built, equipped, and very largely supported 

 during the whole of that time by voluntary subscriptions, and that they 

 considered the time had come when it should either be closed or continued 

 as a State-supported institution. 



Shortly after the publication of this memorandum, however, a Com- 

 mittee of Inquiry into the expenditure of the annual Parliamentary grant 

 of 15,300^. for meteorology was appointed, and representations were 

 made to the Directors from various quarters that it would be well if the 

 work at the two Observatories was continued without interruption till 

 the Committee had reported. Your Committee are, with much satis- 

 faction, able to report that within a few weeks sufficient funds were 

 obtained to meet the expenses incurred in maintaining the Ben Nevis 

 and Fort William Observatories till October 1904. These Observatories 

 will therefore continue in operation under the charge of the Directors 

 as heretofore till October 1904. 



The Observatories have thus been in operation long enough to yield, 

 from a discussion of the work done at them, conclusions of great value. 

 Their records supply a complete set of simultaneous hourly observations 

 (1) at the summit of Ben Nevis for close on twenty years, and (2) at 

 sea-level in Fort William for a period of thirteen years— times long enough 

 to obtain averages of value and to embrace, it may be added, fully a sun- 

 spot period. The Directors have acquired these facts under conditions 

 which are exceptionally favoui-able — the Observatory at sea-level being 

 less than five miles distant in a straight line from the Observatory on the 

 summit, and yet placed close to the sea and in a fairly open situation. 

 Moreover, it is not a valley station. There are no other two associated 

 Observatories or stations in the world, one at a high and the other at 

 a low level, where such favourable conditions exist. 



The geographical position of Ben Nevis is also favourable. In winter 

 the British islands have a higher mean temperature than any other part 

 of the land surface of the world equally far north, and consequently it 

 is easier to live and work in winter at great altitudes in those islands 

 than anywhere else in similar latitudes. All the other mountain stations 

 are either in the Tropics or in the belt of high barometric pressure 

 which occupies the southern part of the Temperate Zone. Ben Nevis, 

 however, is clear of this high-pressure region, and lies on the edge of the 

 great barometric depression in the North Atlantic which dominates the 

 weather of North-Western Europe. From Ben Nevis, therefore, we get 

 data of observation which no other high-level station yet established is in 

 a position to furnish to forecasters of the weather of North-Western 

 Europe. 



The discussions of the double Ben Nevis and Fort William observa- 

 tions all go to confirm the opinion as to the value of these observations 

 expressed by the Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society in 1887 

 and quoted in this report. Your Committee, however, desire to point out 

 that the full value of the observations for forecasting purposes can only 



