130 METEOROLOGY. 



ber ; but the greatest velocity (58) was not extreme : this occurred on the 

 11th, in the course of the same gale when the brigantine Trial was wrecked 

 at the back of the Albert Pier, Penzance. The oscillations of the barometer 

 were rapid and large. March was fine generally. The rainfall was little more 

 than half the usual amount, and the number of days at all wet was much 

 below the average. There was a short spell of weather more wintry than 

 before, from the 9th to the 12th. Snow fell generally ; at Altarnun 3 inches, 

 the deepest for the winter. The equinox passed without a gale. 



The next quarter was noticeably dry ; the rainfall, and the number of 

 days on which it occurred being less than the average for 25 years in each 

 month, — the former in the proportion of 5*14 to 7'30 inches, the latter as 

 32 to 39. The mean temperature in all was distinctly above the average. 

 The first fortnight of April was unsettled and bleak, with heavy showers and 

 high winds ending in a strong westerly gale on the 13th. Afterwards the 

 weather was fine and warm. The shade temperature reached 70° at Truro, 

 and 80° at Altarnun. Mr. Tripp notes the early bursting of the oak into 

 abundant blossom and leaf, but the last night " of April," he remarks, 

 " gave on grass 7 degrees below freezing point, and this commenced a period 

 " of bitter cold di-y weather, which lasted till quite the end of May." This 

 harshness was mitigated, but not removed, in the west. The days on which 

 rain fell were few at all the stations, but fewer than elsewhere in a marked 

 degree at the Land's End, being only 3 when there were 9 at Helston, and 

 10 at Truro. The three first weeks of June maintained the same character. 

 At Altarnun, where "the temperature of vegetation fell below 32° on seven 

 " nights, garden and farm crops felt the drought severely ; potatoes, &c., cut 

 " down for the second or third time by the frost." A change took place on 

 the 22nd, when the barometer fell steadily and genial showers followed 

 during the next week. The hay crops were light, but of good quality. 



Taking Greenwich for his centre, Mr. Glaisher gives the following sum- 

 mary of the season : — " The warm period which set in on 13th March (the 

 " excess of the daily temperature of which till the end of March was 5|°) con- 

 " tinued with very slight exceptions throughout April, the average daily excess 

 " of temperature for this month being 4°. On several days towards the end 

 " of the month the days were very warm, the excesses being as large as lO" 

 " to 13". On 1st May a cold period set in, and continued without exception 

 "till the 21st; these three weeks of low temperature were very painful, fol- 

 " lowing so immediately the heat of the preceding seven weeks. A period 

 " of warm weather then occurred from 22nd May to 11th June, the average 

 " daily excess being 41°, deficiency to the same amount existing from that 

 " time to the end of the quarter, while low temperatures prevailed. The 

 " continued deficiency of rain is very remarkable, and it seems to be general 

 " over the whole country. In the 6 months ending May, and in the 7 

 "months ending June, there is no instance of so little rain recorded at 

 " Greenwich." On the whole the season was more genial than in Cornwall. 



July resembled June in being fine during the first 3 weeks (during which 

 Coggia's comet was well seen), then rainy for a week, with a fair close. The 



