THE WEATHER AND THE MARCH HIGH TIDES. 



W. H. VVHEEI.EK, C.i;., 



l:«sl,>n. 



The weather durini;- March has been true to llie old sayiiiif 

 ' March many weathers.' There were in the early part of the 

 month bright sunny days and mild temperature. These days 

 of glorious springs weather made it appear as if ' a week of 

 May had lost its way.' The brig-ht sunshine had a mag-ical 

 effect upon the g-arden, and the beds began to look very gay 

 with yellow, mauve, and white crocusses, all opening wide to 

 the sun ; the white snowdrops which had peeped out of the 

 snow, were still lingering, and contrasted with the bright blue 

 and red of the hepatictes, and here and there, the bright blue 

 scillas and the chinoxdoxias were peeping out of the earth, 

 the first bunches of the megasea were very pronounced, 

 although the great leaves from under which they had pushed 

 their way, showed the eftect of a recent frost b}' their brown 

 colour and withered appearance. But as it has been said 

 English weather 'is ahva3s normal when it is most abnormal,' 

 and March, which had come in like a lamb, soon reverted to its 

 old way of roaring like a lion. The thermometer fell seven 

 degrees below freezing point, and made the premature flower 

 buds look withered and scorched. The ground was white with 

 snow, and a bitterly cold blizzard caused the fact to be realised 

 that winter was not yet done with. On the 12th the wind was 

 blowing a gale from the north-west, and in some parts of the 

 coast almost with the force of a hurricane. This was due to a 

 cyclonic disturbance which had its centre over the Baltic. The 

 full moon being only two days old, and the tides near the time 

 of the Equinox, were laid down as nearly a foot above ordinary 

 spring tides, but due to the gale, and the direction of the wind, 

 which was favourable to the making of high tide in the North 

 Sea ; all along the East Coast they were exceptionally high, 

 the water on Monday rising nearly 3 ft. above an ordinary 

 spring tide, and 2 ft. 4 in. above the predicted height. In the 

 Thames the tide was 4 ft. 4 in. above Trinity high water mark, 

 and rose nearly level with the Thames Embankment. A very 

 large area of land along the river was inundated ; the quays in 

 many places were under water, and the warehouses and base- 

 ments of houses flooded. At the mouth of the river the water 

 was stated to be 7 ft. above its normal height in the Medway. 

 The sea banks were broken through near Sheerness, Southend, 



Naturalist, 



