THE CLIMATE OF EAST ANGLIA 23 
still remains above 50. For only towards its close does the warmth of 
the year begin to recede materially, and the subdued airs of summer 
give place at long last to the rising and rainier winds and cloudier skies 
of the autumn. It is not till November, however, that the year’s main 
fall in temperature takes place. On its colder and moister airs float inland 
at times across the sea-level lands of the Broads, chill, invading white 
mists from the bordering North Sea; then in pale-sunned December the 
returning gleam of the gulls in the van of the cold against the cold blue 
of the sky, heralds the return of the winter. 
The variations through the year, as will be seen, are not inconsiderable ; 
they have indeed ranged from a dozen degrees below zero to 95-5 in the 
shade ; from o-12 in. of rain in a month to 6-49 in. ina day. But wide 
variations may well be accounted a factor of worth in a climate, For 
just as our vitalities are best served by alternations of activity and rest, 
so can our vigour be shown best furthered and enhanced by weather 
variations either side of the fittest mean—if we are called on to react 
only to unvarying conditions, our unexercised faculties tend to flag and 
decline. The dry cold of our winter, in short, may be regarded as the 
annual equivalent of our morning tub; the frequent changes of weather 
through the year the equivalent of our physical jerks. And while the 
changes in the East Anglian area of the temperate zone do not swing to 
hurtful excess, they are wide enough nevertheless for high fitness and 
vigour. The unbroken expanse of our skies exposes us alike to the 
sting of the sun and the passing cold shadow of cloud ; our winds with- 
out hills to hinder run hard and free over level horizons, ‘That longevity 
is in various East Anglian areas outstanding ; that to the Dictionary of 
National Biography East Anglia contributes far above its quota of names, 
may evidence the worth of its conditions. May not indeed the appended 
figures of our climate, rightly translated, form the words, a splendid 
heritage ? 
Temperature. Rainfall. Sunshine. 
Degrees F. Inches Hours 
January . : : 38°5 2°12 49°9 
February é ‘ 39° 1°72 67-4 
March . . , 41°8 1°78 12215 
April ; : ; 45°9 1-go 154°7 
May F : , 52°5 1°76 2I4°1 
June . Y ‘ iy ae 1°84 203°5 
July : : ’ 61-4 2°54 193°8 
August . : 60°5 2°37 182-4 
September é . 56°5 2°19 152°4 
October . ; ’ 50°! 2°58 11473 
November E : 42°9 252 65°6 
December : : 39°5 2°76 re a 
Mean 48-8 ‘Total 26-08 ‘Total 1,563-3 
